FIRST PAPER TOPIC: From Anecdote to Allegory: Reading Narrative Forms

In this paper, I would like you to attempt ("essay") an initial synthesis of the work we've been doing on the narrative structures that underpin ordinary anecdotes, literary anecdotes, short stories, parables, and allegories. This is a chance to put the ideas we've been studying into action and to show off your skills as an attentive reader of a variety of narrative forms.

Your paper should demonstrate a working familiarity with the theoretical frameworks, questions, and concepts advanced by some or all of the following thinkers: Labov/Pratt, Hillis Miller, Roger Brown, Freud (especially his distinction between manifest and latent content), and Barthes. This is a chance to formalize your thinking about these theorists and to begin taking stock of the ideas that you find most fruitful for your work as a literary and cultural analyst in training. Needless to say, this is also a chance to heap ridicule on--uhm, I mean, offer respectful critique of-- such positions and concepts as you deem dubious, less than helpful, etc.

Because the insights, concepts, and methodological cues you've culled from theoretical sources (and your own experiences as a reader) are best put to the test in concrete acts of interpretation, I ask that you select three texts for close analysis and discussion. One text should be drawn from The Literary Anecdote section of Text Book (Benjamin, Williams, Auster, Jameson, Staples); one from The Short Story section (Chopin, Williams, Paley); and one from the Hidden Meaning: Parables and Allegory section (Bible, Kafka, Borges, Calvino, Barth).

Choose the texts that most intrigue and interest you and give as full an account of their structure and texture as space allows, making sure to account for salient differences between the texts (and "kinds" of text they represent) as well as for the continuities and similarities you've noticed. What kinds of interpretative practice do the different texts seem to call for? How do they ask you to read? What kinds and degrees of legibility (or opacity) do they afford?

FORMAT: 4-6 pages, 10-12pt. font, double spaced. FIRST-DRAFT DUE: In-class on Thursday.