HUX 573 - KEY PERIODS AND MOVEMENTS: LITERATURE

HUMANITIES 573
KEY PERIODS AND MOVEMENTS: LITERATURE
Archetypal Criticism: Theory and Practice

BOOKS REQUIRED

Richard E. Hughes, The Lively Image: Four Myths in Literature (Little, Brown & Co., 1975). (Included at the end of the course guide)
* Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth. With Bill Moyers. (Anchor Books, 1988).
Harold Schechter & Jonna Semeiks, eds., Discoveries: 50 Stories of the Quest. 2^nd Ed. (Oxford, 1992).
** James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ed. R.B. Kershner, second edition (St. Martins Press).
*** Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. Harrison (Oxford University Press).
*** Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer. (Signet, 1980).
Joseph Gibaldi and Walter Achtert, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. (Modern Language Association, 1988). Note: This book is required for all HUX Courses.

*This is the non-illustrated (and therefore less expensive) edition.

**This edition must be used because of the interpretative essays it contains (see Fourth Writing Assignment).

***You do not have to use these particular editions. Make sure, however, that you use a translation of Sir Gawain (unless you’re familiar with Middle English dialects).

For Narcissus chapter in Hughes: read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s "Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment"
For Dionysos chapter: read D.H. Lawrence’s "The Woman Who Rode Away"
For Orpheus chapter: read Joseph Conrad’s "The Secret Sharer" (in Signet edition)
For Christ chapter: read Flannery O’Connor’s "Greenleaf"

The above short-stories, used in Hughes’ Lively Image have not been sent to you because of copyright issues. "The Secret Sharer" is in the Signet edition of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Humanities 573 will explore a 20^th century movement in literature, "archetypal criticism," which had impetus mainly from anthropologist Sir James Frazer and psychologist Carl G. Jung. An "archetype" is an original pattern or prototype from which copies are made. So archetypal criticism focuses on recurrent patterns in literature and their analogues in folk tale, dream, ritual, and myth. For example, what do the following have in common: an initiate in a puberty rite being isolated in a hut and made to suffer (ritual); Little Red Riding Hood’s wandering in the woods and confronting a wolf (fairy tale); Jonah’s taking a sea voyage and being swallowed by a whale (Bible); Orpheus’ descending to the underworld to try to rescue Eurydice (Greek Myth); and the Ancient Mariner’s killing an albatross and having a perilous sea journey (literature)? They are all variations of a rebirth archetype in which the hero experiences a symbolic death and then is reborn, having gained special knowledge that can be brought back to the ordinary world. The main premise of archetypal criticism is that an understanding of such archetypes (in a sense they are "key concepts") will help illuminate an individual literary text by connecting it to more universal patterns that often transcend literature itself. You will investigate the concepts of several archetypal critics (including Joseph Campbell, Richard Hughes, and Northrop Frye) and then be given an opportunity to apply these concepts to longer works of literature such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Heart of Darkness, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, as well as to numerous short stories from an anthology based upon the quest of Campbell’s Monomythic hero. Four (4) papers will be required; in each you will practice archetypal criticism.

COURSE ORGANIZATION

Do the assignments in the order given below:

WEEK 1:	Course guide (the document you are now reading). Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and the course guide’s Archetypal Criticism section (actual essay reprinted at the end of the course guide). "Introduction" and "The Elements of Fiction" in Discoveries. Study Questions #1B, and The Lively Image, reprinted in the course guide.
WEEK 2:	Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth.
WEEK 3:	First Writing Assignment based on The Lively Image. DUE AT THE END OF WEEK 3.
WEEK 4:	"Horse-Dealer’s Daughter" and "Araby" in Discoveries, pp. 502-515 & 408-413, and the course guide’s Narrative Romance section. Foulke and Smith, "General Introduction" and "Narrative Romance," reprinted at the end of the course guide, and Study Questions #3. Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, reprinted at the end of the course guide, and Study Questions #3.
WEEK 5:	Study Questions #3 & Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Comments, and the following short stories in Discoveries: "Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller" (pp. 553- 572), "Worn Path" (pp. 225-232), "Through the Tunnel" (pp. 300- 307). Foulke and Smith, "Narrative Irony," reprinted at the end of the course guide, and course guide’s Comments. Course guide’s Comments, and Heart of Darkness. Course guide’s Comments, and short stories in Discoveries: "Big Boy Leaves Home" (pp. 261-291), "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" (pp. 191-206).
WEEK 6:	Foulke and Smith, "Narrative Tragedy," reprinted at the end of the course guide, pp. 139-154, and course guide’s Narrative Tragedy. Course guide’s Comments, and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" in Discoveries, pp. 168-180. Study Questions #6, course guide’s King Lear, and King Lear—optional. Foulke and Smith, "Narrative Comedy," reprinted at the end of the course guide, pp. 155-173, and course guide’s Narrative Comedy section. Anatomy of Criticism, pp. 171-176 & 216-219, reprinted at the end of the course guide, pp. 181-190, and Study Questions #7. "The Conversion of the Jews" in Discoveries, pp. 383-395. Course guide’s Comments, and The School for Scandal—optional.
WEEK 7:	Second Writing Assignment: Irony as Parody of Romance. DUE AT THE END OF WEEK 7.
WEEK 8:	Discoveries, Chapters 1 & 2: read the chapter introductions and all the short stories.
WEEK 9:	Discoveries, Chapters 3 & 4: read the chapter introductions and all the short stories.
WEEK 10:	Discoveries, Chapters 5 & 6: read the chapter introductions and all the short stories.
WEEK 11:	Third Writing Assignment: Six Stages of the Quest. DUE AT THE END OF WEEK 11.
WEEKS 12, 13, 14:	Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and course guide’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man section. Portrait: Case Study, and Study Questions #8.
WEEK 15:	Fourth Writing Assignment: Kershner, Campbell, and Joyce. DUE AT THE END OF WEEK 15.

Assignment	Done:	Grade:	Course Guide	Percentage of Grade
Writing Assignment #1			Page 40	= 10% of your grade
Writing Assignment #2			Page 50	= 30% of your grade
Writing Assignment #3			Page 64	= 30% of your grade
Writing Assignment #4			Page 69	= 30% of your grade