Tekstanalyse,
-historie, og –teori (TAHT)
English, 8. sem.
Thursdays, 10.15 - 12.00, room 1.121, KS3
Lecturer: Bent
Sørensen
Several
Ways of Turning the Screw
This course presents a
number of readings of one core text: Henry
James: The Turn of
the Screw.
The aim of the course is to show
examples of various schools of textual theory applied to the same text.
Thus, students will learn more about theory, but also see analytical
tools used in practice.
James’ short novel is
available in many editions – you may for instance
access a free electronic version of it through AUB (ebrary). However, I
recommend that you buy the Norton
Critical Edition
(eds. Deborah Esch
& Jonathan Warren, 1999) - ordered through Centerboghandelen),
since all my page references will be to this version, and since some of
the critical texts on the course plan plus other valuable background
material can be found only in this edition.
Two other books are strongly
recommended, namely Neil Cornwell & Maggie Malone's edition (1999)
of The Turn of
the Screw & What
Maisie Knew in the
Palgrave
Macmillan New Casebooks series, and Peter G. Beidler's edition of the
novel in The Bedford Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series.
Many of the articles from those volumes
will be in the course box and will be discussed during the course, so
you must choose whether you prefer to copy them from the master box or
whether you want to buy the two books.
Texts on the course plan marked (NCE)
are included in the Norton Critical Edition, texts marked (Casebook)
are included the Cornwell/Malone Macmillan New Casebook edition, texts
marked (Bedford) are, of course, from Beidler's Bedford Case Studies
Edition.
Course
plan:
Genre,
Mode, Narration (1-2):
7/2: 1.
Introduction: A close
reading of the novel, focussing in particular
on character, themes and narration [Agenda for analysis]
Henry James: The Turn of
the Screw
(NCE) Tzvetan Todorov: “The
Fantastic” (NCE)
14/2:
2.
Generic approaches
Ronald Schleifer: “The Trap
of the Imagination: The Gothic Tradition,
Fiction and The Turn of
the Screw”
(Casebook)
Psychoanalysis,
Feminism,
Deconstruction (3-5):
21/2: 3.
Deconstruction
Shoshana Felman: “Henry
James: Madness and the Risks of Practice
(Turning the Screw of Interpretation)” (NCE)
28/2: 4.
Psychoanalytical approaches
Ned Lukacher: ““Hanging
Fire”: The Primal Scene of The Turn of
the
Screw” (NCE) Harold C. Goddard: “A
Pre-Freudian Reading of The Turn of
the Screw”
(NCE)
6/3: 5.
Feminist/Gender studies/Queer
approaches
Beth Newman: “Getting
Fixed: Feminine Identity and Scopic Crisis in The
Turn of the Screw”
(Casebook)
Priscilla L. Walton: ““He took no notice of her; he
looked at me”: Subjectivities and Sexualities
in The Turn of the Screw”(Bedford)
History,
Materialism, Reader (6-8):
13/3: 6.
New Historicist approaches
Paul B. Armstrong: “History
and Epistemology: The Example of The Turn
of the Screw” (NCE) Marianne Dekoven: “Gender,
History, and Modernism in The Turn of
the
Screw” (Casebook)
27/3: 7.
Cultural Studies approaches
John Carlos Rowe: “The Use
and Abuse of Uncertainty in The Turn of
the
Screw” (Casebook)
3/4: 8.
Reader-response approaches
T.J. Lustig: “Blanks in The
Turn of the Screw” (Casebook)
Wayne C. Booth: ““He began to read to our hushed
little circle”: Are We Blessed or Cursed by
Our Life with The Turn of the Screw?” (Bedford)
Exam:
At the end of the semester there is a written exam where you will be
asked to write an essay on one or several texts drawn from a curriculum
list.
You'll find all the info you need at this link.