6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1020937AEW for working students in the 1st semester at a (A) Bachelor - preliminary level.

Semester
1st semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Possible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
NOTE: registration for this course is only possible for working students. Day students can register for courses whose code ends with an R. At Inschrijven / studentenadministratie@vub.be you must be registered at the VUB as a working student for the current academic year.
Taught in
Dutch
Faculty
Faculty of Languages & Humanities
Department
Linguistics and Literary Studies
Educational team
Ronald Geerts (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
72 contact hours Lecture
15 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
78 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

This course shows the diverse ways available to approach a literary text: 1) text-centred approaches, 2) context-centred approaches, r3° eader-oriented approaches.  In 1) Russian formalism, Czech structuralism, French structuralism, Narratology and semiotics, Postructuralism, In 2)  Sociology of literature (Lukacs and Goldmann); Frankfurter Schule, 7) Contemporary theories: Cultural Studies, a.o. 3) The reader and the text (included phenomenology and hermeneutics). With each approach we first focus on the original context and the general theory. Then an essay is read, in which the theory is concretely applied to a literary text. The course is designed as a general, introductory course, but also explicitly strives for depth. During classes not only literary but also philosophical and art-historical examples will be given. The fundamental questions of literary theory reach beyond the boundaries of the literary text.


 

Course material
Digital course material (Required) : For each chapter students receive a bibliography with additional course material., Canvas
Additional info

The texts, extracts and video clips used are made available to the students.

Additional Reading is encouraged: a bibliography is provided.


 

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

- Students are familiar with the main literary theories of the twentieth century.

- Students can explain why it is impossible to analyze a (literary) text without theory. Even people who believe that they are 'simply reading what it says', start from a theory.

- Students can critically discuss and illustrate the various academic approaches to texts. They can make
clear that a literary scholar must be conscious of certain theoretical assumptions. Otherwise they will thwart the text they are reading.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Oral examen with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

    Note: During this exam the knowledge of the student will be tested via four types of questions:
    1. Identifying terms and explaining them.
    2. Reproductive question on a part of the syllabus
    3. Evaluation of insight in the course in which different aspects of the course should be connected thoroughly
    4. A question on the discussed theoretical texts

Additional info regarding evaluation

Oral exam with written preparation. Student blind pick three questions. They choose two of the three questions (the third goes back in the stack).

Student must be able to compare and explain approaches in literary theory.
 

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Adult Education: Profile Social Studies (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Adult Education: Profile Cultural Studies (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Adult Education: Initial track (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Political Science and Sociology: - afstudeerrichting sociologie, minor samenleving en cultuur (only offered in Dutch)