Methodology
Code: 42317 ECTS Credits: 10| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4313178 Comparative Literature: Literary and Cultural Studies | OB | 0 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Pere Ballart Fernandez
- Email:
- pere.ballart@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
Other comments on languages
Eventually the course materials may contain some text in Catalan.Prerequisites
—The students need to have acquired the competences of the area of study of their respective degrees and master them.
—The students need to be able to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to an academic audience either acquainted with the field or not.
—The students need to know how to apply the knowledge required for their profession and be able to produce arguments relevant to their area of study.
—The students need to collect and analyze relevant data to produce arguments and reflections on particular subjects with a social, scientific or ethical angle.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The objective of this module is to give an overview of the diversity of methods of literary investigation, so that the students get acquainted with the essential premises of academic research and the different strategies of approaching the literary and cultural phenomena. This will help them in their future research. For this reason, the course offers, firstly, an initial reflection on the epistemological problems that literary research entails; and secondly, it also offers the opportunity to apply the acquired systems by inviting students to start drafting their own projects which may become their master’s dissertation.
Competences
- Analyse the historical processes of theory of literature and comparative literature, basing the analysis on paradigm shifts.
- Apply the different theoretical and generic models to text analysis and interpretation.
- Apply the ideological foundations of cultural analysis to the different areas of literary criticism and comparativist studies.
- Evaluate current applications of comparative literature based on the historical processes it has followed.
- Examine the ideological foundations of cultural representations of gender and sexuality.
- Examine the main theoretical currents in history of the theory of literature.
- Interpret, in accordance with the principal analysis methodologies, the thematic and symbolic contents of the work in terms of its rhetorical and pragmatic strategies.
- Make creative, original contributions to the comparativist study of literary and cultural texts.
- Organise, plan and manage projects.
- Present research findings to experts and non-experts.
- Reason critically based on analysis and synthesis.
- Work in an interdisciplinary team in different contexts.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse and apply the principles and methods of cultural analysis, by establishing links with theoretical and critical approaches, to a variety of literary and cultural texts.
- Analyse and apply the principles and methods of current theoretical, critical and comparativist approaches to different aspects of the processes of literary, artistic and cultural representation.
- Apply different theories in search of a thematic interpretation that takes formal and pragmatic strategies into account.
- Apply the principles and methods of current comparativist approaches to the international, intertextual and intercultural variety of literary, artistic and cultural representation.
- Apply the principles and methods of recent theoretical currents related to new historicism, polysystems theory, the sociology of literature, the Chicago school, neo-rhetorics, etc.
- Apply these theories to the analysis of cultural texts.
- Compare specific literary modes or genres, comparing their development and peculiarities in the modern and post-modern periods.
- Critically analyse the different theoretical approaches to gender and sexuality studies.
- Organise, plan and manage projects.
- Present research findings to experts and non-experts.
- Reason critically based on analysis and synthesis.
- Use the theoretical, critical and comparative approach to the study of cultural texts and products such as narrations and films.
- Work in an interdisciplinary team in different contexts.
Content
FIRST UNIT (Theory)
Literary research. Literature as an object of study.
Notes on epistemology. How to plan your research.
The academic genre of the thesis.
Generic conventions. Pragmatics of literary discourse.
Theory versus history: case study.
SECOND UNIT (Practice)
Oral presentations on a personal research project.
Methodology
The course is structured in seminars and debates on the texts being discussed. The students will have to show and identify the basic theoretical concepts of contemporary critical methods in a number of examples and case studies. In parallel to the seminars, the students will structure their hypotheses in one-to-one meetings with their tutor addressing the written assignments of the course. It is very important for the assessment the realization of an oral presentation on the first draft of the students’ future research. Their object of study, methodology, research plan and the general interest of their work will be open to discussion with the rest of the class. Afterwards, the students will hand in a written report of the outcome and success of their presentation, considering their peers’ observations and how to address them appropriately in the future project.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Seminars | 60 | 2.4 | 8, 1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 12, 11, 13 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| One-to-one meeting | 25 | 1 | 1, 6, 10, 9, 11 |
| Supervision of the elaboration of a research project | 40 | 1.6 | 1, 6, 10, 9, 11 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Bibliographical research and study of canonical/critical texts. | 60 | 2.4 | 8, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11 |
| Reviews on the content of the course | 50 | 2 | 8, 1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 9, 11 |
Assessment
The students will successfully pass the module by
1) attending and participating in the seminars (10%)
2) a written exam on the main theoretical concepts of the first unit (30%)
3) a review of a critical work (20%)
4) Oral presentation on a personal research project (20%)
5) Written report on the outcomes of it (20%)
Students who do not attend the written exam and the oral presentation, will be considered as "not evaluable".
In the event that tests or exams (or their revision) cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attendance and active participation in the seminars and class debates. | 10% | 2 | 0.08 | 8, 1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 11, 13 |
| Oral presentation of a personal research project | 20 % | 1 | 0.04 | 1, 10, 9, 11, 13 |
| Review of a critical work relevant to the students' area of study | 20 % | 6 | 0.24 | 8, 1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 11 |
| Written appraisal of the basic concepts of the module | 30 % | 3 | 0.12 | 8, 1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 12, 11 |
| Written report of the outcomes of oral presentation | 20 % | 3 | 0.12 | 1, 6, 10, 9, 11, 13 |
Bibliography
Ballart, Pere y Julià, Jordi (2010) Sobre islas y penínsulas. Ensayo de teoría de la literatura y literatura comparada, Madrid, Devenir.
Barry, Peter (1995), Beginning theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory, Manchester, Manchester UP, 2002.
Booth, W. C., G. Colomb & J. M. Williams (1995), The Craft of Research, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.
Cabo, Fernando y Rábade, María do Cebreiro (2006), Manual de Teoría de la Literatura, Madrid, Castalia.
Compagnon, Antoine (1998) El demonio de la teoría. Literatura y sentido común, Barcelona, El Acantilado, 2015.
Culler, Jonathan (1997), Literary theory: A very short introduction, Oxford, Oxford UP. Trad. esp.: Breve introducción a la teoría literaria, tr. G. García, Barcelona, Crítica, 2000.
Di Girolamo, Costanzo (1978), Teoría crítica de la literatura, Barcelona, Crítica, 2001.
Eagleton, Terry (1983), Literary theory: An introduction, Oxford, Blackwell, 2009. Trad. esp.: Una introducción a la teoría de la literatura, México, FCE, 1993.
Ellis, John M. (1974), The theory of literary criticism: A logical analysis, Berkeley, University of California. Trad. esp.: Teoría de la crítica literaria, Madrid, Taurus, 1987.
Guillén, Claudio (1985), Entre lo uno y lo diverso. Introducción a la literatura comparada, Barcelona, Crítica; Barcelona, Tusquets, 2005.
Iser, Wolfgang, How To Do Theory, Oxford, Blackwell, 2006.
Llovet, Jordi et alii (2005), Teoría literaria y literatura comparada, Barcelona, Ariel.
Perpinyà, Núria (2008) Las criptas de la crítica, Madrid, Gredos, 2008.
Selden, Raman; Widdowson, Peter; Brooker, Peter (1997), La teoría literaria contemporánea, tr. J. G. López Guix y B. Ribera, Barcelona, Ariel, 2004.
Todorov, Tzvetan (2007), La littérature en péril, París, Flammarion. Trad. esp.
Villanueva, Darío (ed.) (1994), Curso de teoría de la literatura, Madrid, Taurus.
Waugh, Patricia (ed.) (2006), Literary theory and criticism, Oxford, Oxford UP.
Wellek, René y Warren, Austin (1949), Teoría literaria, tr. J. Mª Gimeno, Madrid, Gredos, 1966.
Zima, Peter (1999) The Philosophy of Modern Literary Theory, Londres, Athlone Press.
Software
The course will not have any specific computer requirements.