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.

General agendas for analysis of texts: Prose  Poetry  Nonfiction Drama

Some fun theory sites:
ÉCLAT: The Essential Comparative Literature And Theory Site
How to do Deconstruction
SaussureScape
Lacan
Some Post-Structuralist Assumptions
Voice of the Shuttle (VoS) Portal