The Act of Interpretation - Fall 2010 - Prof. Steve Evans

Reading Syllabus • Subject to change; check back frequently. Current day here.

Chapter 1: What is representation? Readings in Gorgias, Plato, Aristotle, and Horace + Proust

31 August, Tues | Introduction to course

Whiteboards: advice to hermeneuts & two terms

I. In-class writing: Advice for interpreting difficult texts.

II. Overview of course, structured around questions that are central to the discipline of literary study. Hermeneutics and semiotics.

III. "The Brick" (Norton anthology) and Proust.

02 Sept, Thurs | Norton: Gorgias (29-33, on-line); Plato, "Ion" (35-48; on-line). Proust 3-9.

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

I. In-class writing: Defending an indefensible person.

II. Gorgias, rhetoric, and truth.

III. First remarks on Proust. The ethical and existential project that drives the text: how not to have wasted one's life.

7 Sept, Tues | Norton: Plato, "Republic" (49-80, on-line). Proust 8-48. Plato Tip: If you're reading on-line, the Norton includes Book II paragraphs 376-83; Book III ¶¶ 386-92 and 400-403; Book VII ¶¶ 514-518; and Book X ¶¶ 595-608.

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Socratic method & "iron ring" analogy in Ion.

I. In-class writing: How individuals prepared for today's class, and some preliminary remarks on either "Ion" or the experience of reading Proust.

II. Historical sketch, from Trojan War to time of Plato.

III. Socratic method (elenchus). "What do you know?" Bringing one's interlocutor from complacent certainty to perplexity and puzzlement. Socrates as cultural revolutionary. (My remarks on the topic of elenchus owe a debt to Richard Robinson's interesting brief essays on the topic, available on-line here and here.)

IV. The paradoxes of the Socrates-Plato equation, most notably the latter's adoption of the very form of written representation that Socrates anathematizes in the Phaedrus. Also, the tension between rational argument and "literary" devices such as metaphor and allegoy. The magnetic rings image that clinches the argument against "Ion."

V. Further introductory remarks on Proust. The "primal scene" of the goodnight kiss at Combray (the episode many readers never make it past). Aside on photography, phonography, and telephony in Proust. The role of chance in restoring the narrator's "lost time" at Combray. Voluntary and involuntary memory. The latter often triggered by a concrete sensation (esp. taste and smell). Japanese water flowers. First crushes. Swann, a case study in failed existence.

9 Sept, Thurs | Norton: Plato, "Republic" (49-80), "Phaedrus" (81-85). Proust 48-100.

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Proust, Mimesis Formula & Canonical Narrative Tempos

I. In-class writing: Your equivalent to the "madeleine" (adjusting for the paradox that such memory triggers tend to be involuntary and unpredictable). Aside about Mister Softee.

II. The five canonical narrative tempos. Relationship of "plot" to "story" (and related oppositions: presence~absence, manifest~latent, words~worlds). Ellipsis, summary, scene, stretch, and pause. With illustrations from 24, Lost, Glee, Robot Chicken, Jersey Shore, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and other examples of quality entertainment. But also Proust. And Rear Window.

III. Plato's allegory of the cave. Proust's narrator likened to the "former prisoner." Born into codes, customs, and conventions that precede one; apprenticing oneself to those codes and to a certain extent interiorizing them (as "beliefs"); then learning to question and in certain cases break with those codes. Aside on taking up one's name.

14 Sept, Tues | Norton: Aristotle, "Poetics" (86-121). Proust 100-150.

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Library Assignment: Identify and locate the major book holdings related to Plato in the Fogler Collection. From the books you discover, select one to handle and investigate, noting the particulars of its publication (Place: Publisher, Year) and documenting the table of contents in one of the following formats: jpg photograph (as taken with your cell phone, for instance), photocopy or scan, or handwritten transcription. JPGs and scans can be attach-filed to me on First Class before noon today; photocopies and handwritten transcripts are due in class. In either case, the publication information should be included (either in the body of the e-mail or somewhere on the hardcopy).

16 Sept, Thurs | Norton: Aristotle, "Poetics" and "Rhetoric" (86-121). Proust 150-200. WJT Mitchell, "Representation" (handout)

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Three beds & Adjectives for Proust's style

I. In-class writing: Three questions about our readings and discussions to date.

II. Conversation about the experience of reading Proust, continued.

III. Rapid review of Aristotle's "Poetics."

21 Sept, Tues | Norton: Horace, "Ars Poetica" (121-135). Proust 200-250. Note: The Latin text of Horace's "Ars Poetics" can be consulted here; a translation into English verse is here. Handout of Steve's "character" map for the opening episodes of Proust.

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Three standpoints & Mimesis formula + Peirce's signs

I. In-class assignment: Aristotle's terms for the features discernible in all successful works of literary art.

II. Plato, Aristotle, and Horace: Of interest in their own rights, but also "typical" of basic analytical and interpretive standpoints. Review and discussion.

III. Mitchell's article on "Representation," esp. the discussion of Peirce's classification of signs into three major categories: icon, index, symbol.

Recommended readings in Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism (henceforth GLTC): for Gorgias, see entries on "Classical Theory and Criticism" by Leon Golden and Kathy Eden. Plato, Aristotle, and Horace all have individual entries. C.S. Peirce, whose contributions to semiotics are discussed by W.J.T. Mitchell, has an individual entry and is also discussed in the entry on Semiotics by Paul Perron. The Latin text of Horace's "Ars Poetics" can be consulted here; a translation into English verse is here. As to Proust, perhaps the single best on-line resource is Mark Calkins's Temps Perdu, which includes, among other things, a very useful roster of characters.

Chapter 2: What is language? Readings in Saussure, Jakobson, Levi-Strauss, Austin, and Heidegger + Proust

Note that clicking on author names will call up links in the GLTC.

23 Sept, Thurs | Norton: Saussure (956-977). Proust 250-300.

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Saussure's sign & Peirce's signs

28 Sept, Tues | Norton: Saussure (956-977); Mallarmé (845-51). Proust 300-350.

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Saussure & Arbitrary vs. Motivated

I. In-class writing: Questions for Saussure.

II. Preview of first paper, applying Aristotle's Poetics to an artwork of your choice. Plus: Millay Prize event Thursday. And reminder that "Character Maps" of Swann in Love (the middle section of Swann's Way) are due by October 5.

III. Saussure's major concepts & clever diagrams.

IV. An "Horatian" coda: the final three paragraph's of Mallarmé's "Crisis in Poetry." • An image from Mallarmé's most famous poem here (from a recent Wired piece about e-readers).

30 Sept, Thurs | Jakobson (1254-1269). Proust 350-400.

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Aristotle Review & Paradigm/Syntagm

5 Oct, Tues | Norton: Kristeva (2169-79). Proust 400-444. Due in class: Proust Character Map.

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Linguistic terms & Jakobson's functions

7 Oct, Thurs | Norton: Levi-Strauss (1415-1427); Austin (1427-1442).

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Austin's Performatives + Jakobson's Functions & Bundled syntagms

12 Oct, Tues | No Class

14 Oct, Thurs | Norton: Heidegger (1118-1135).

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Heidegger + Sound Poets

I. In-class writing: The object of your Aristotelian analysis, and a plan for completion of the assignment one week from today. Soundtrack, some songs by Hank Williams.

II. Remarks on The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA; handout). Listening to "Beyond Doo Wop" by Paul Dutton. Remarks on sound poetry, including the "Ursonate" of Kurt Schwitters. Regression and poetry: babble, Babel, pre- and non-linguistic states. Connection to Kristeva (cf. October 5 above).

III. Heidegger's "Language." Trakl's poem, Ein Winterabend, wonderfully voiced in German by Tobias. Against the "instrumental" and "scientific" approaches to language. The poem as pure expression of language (cf. "the death of the author," November 4). Dif-ference, intimacy: unter- (German), inter- (Latin), dia- (Greek). The threshold as space that "cuts and connects." The "-ing" in "thinging of things, worlding of worlds."

Chapter 3: What is hermeneutics? What makes an interpretation valid? Readings in Schleiermacher, Nietzsche, Poulet, Iser, and de Man + Freud

Note that clicking on author names will call up related links in the GLTC.

19 Oct, Tues | Norton: Schleiermacher (610-626). Freud, Interpretation of Dreams, chap. 2.

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

I. In-class writing: With whom would you like to continue discussing the question "What is language?" From whom would you just as soon take your leave?

II. Review of basic stances and styles of Saussure, Jakobson, Levi-Strauss, Austin, Heidegger, and Kristeva.

III. Remarks on Schleiermacher, translation as interpretation. That there is language at all; that there are many languages.

21 Oct, Thurs | Norton: Nietzsche, "On Truth and Lying..." (870-884). Aristotle Paper due electronically by noon.

An mp3 recording of all but the final ten minutes or so of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Schleiermacher & Hermeneutic Circle

26 Oct, Tues | Norton: Poulet (1317-1333); Iser (1670-1682). Freud, Interpretation of Dreams, chaps. 3-4.

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Iser & Phenomenology of Reading

28 Oct, Thurs | Norton: Hirsch (1684-1708).

An mp3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Freud & more Freud.

I. In-class writing: Freud's plaque.

II. Overview of basic argument in chapters 2-4 of Interpretation of Dreams. Remarks on psycho-analytic situation. Freud's "Copernican" turn to the question of human subjectivity. Roots in Nietzsche. Descarte's "I think therefore I am" and Freud's "Where It was, so shall I be" (Wo Es war, soll Ich werden). Terminological issues: the It and the I, the Unconscious and the Ego. Wish-fulfilment: der Wunsch, also translatable as "desire."

III. Brief remarks on Hirsch. The hermeneutic circle—and its tendency to turn vicious (1704 and following).

2 Nov, Tues | de Man, "Semiology and Rhetoric" (1509-1526). Freud, Interpretation of Dreams, chap. 5.

An mp3 file of this session is available on Blackboard.

Whiteboards: Freud (left) and Freud (right), on dream sources.

I. In-class writing: What course would you most like to take that doesn't already appear in the English Department spring 2011 offerings?

II. The three major "sources" of dream material, according to chapter 5 of Interpretation of Dreams. Parallels between Proust's project and Freudian psycho-analysis. The labor of individuation.

III. Second brief discussion of Hirsch's project of "objective interpretation." Sinn and Bedeutung. The authorial intention that we, as readers, reconstruct is not necessarily identical to the explicit contents of a given author's consciousness.

Chapter 4: What is an author? Readings in Gramsci, Barthes, Foucault, Bahktin, Gilbert & Gubar, Williams, Eagleton, Ngugi + Freud

4 Nov, Thurs | Norton: Gramsci (1135-1144); Barthes (1466-1470); Foucault (1622-1636).

An mp3 recording of this session is available on Blackboard.

Whiteboards: Barthes (left), Barthes and Hirsch (middle-left), Hirsch on Sinn and Bedeutung (middle-right), and Flarf (right).

9 Nov, Tues | Norton: Bakhtin (1186-1220). Freud, Interpretation of Dreams, chap. 6.

An mp3 recording of this session is available on Blackboard.

Whiteboards: Freud's dreamwork (left) and Aristotle Paper Discussion (right).

I. Aristotle paper rubric review and discussion, in advance of one-on-one conferences during the week.

II. Brief remarks on Freudian "dreamwork." Condensation, displacement; metaphor, metonymy.

11 Nov, Thurs | Norton: Bloom (1797-1805); Gilbert & Gubar (2023-2035).

An mp3 recording of this session is available on Blackboard (direct link).

Whiteboards: Freud's dreamwork (left) and displacement (right).

I. No in-class writing, but introspective review of recent readings: where are we?

II. Questions for Freud, esp. about the "dreamwork."

III. Remarks on Gramsci's distinction between "traditional" and "organic" intellectuals. The credentialed academic contrasted to the intellectual who is "organic" to a movement, a moment, a situation. Dr. King vs. Malcom X, for example.

16 Nov, Tues | Norton: Williams (1567-75); Eagleton (2243-2250); Ngugi, Liyong, and Owuor-Anyumba (2089-2097).

An mp3 recording of this session is available on Blackboard (direct link).

Whiteboards: Barthes-Foucault, Bloom + Gilbert & Gubar, Gramsci

I. Intellectuals, "traditional" and "organic." What's your working definition? Which one are you (mostly, lately)?

II. Gramsci review.

III. Foucault's response to Barthes: "What is an Author?" The "author-function" and "discourses": the literary field compared to that of advertising, medical science, etc.

IV. Lightning review of Bloom in his own (idiosyncratic) terms, and in relation to Gilbert & Gubar's feminist "supplement" to his theory.

Chapter 5: What is recognition? Identities, interpretations, and ideologies in conflict.

18 Nov, Thurs | Norton: Hegel, "The Master Slave Dialectic" (630-36); Wollstonecraft (582-94); de Staël, "On Women Writers" (604-610).

Due to a glitch, no MP3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Bakhtin, Hegel.

23 Nov, Tues | Norton: Marx & Engels (759-789); Woolf (1017-1030); Hurston (1159-1162). Proust at Fogler assignment due.

Due to another glitch, no MP3 recording of this session is available.

Whiteboards: Freud, More Freud, Still More Freud, (Mis-)Recognition, Ideology.

I. In lieu of an in-class writing assignment: collaborative description of a successful Freud Paper.

II. Introduction to the final chapter of our syllabus. The narrow definition of "ideology" as the consciously-held political convictions of an individual or group. A broader definition will be our concern: the function of ideology in the constitution and conferral of identity. "Individuals" and "subjects." Who am I? Who can I be (mis-)taken for? What happens to people like me? And so on....

25 Nov, Thurs — No Class

30 Nov, Tues | Lacan, "The Mirror Stage..." (required) and "from The Agency of the Letter..." (recommended) (1278-1302); de Beauvoir (1403-1415); Wittig (2014-21). Norton: Freud, "The Uncanny" (929-52).

An mp3 recording of this session is available on Blackboard (direct link).

Whiteboards: Class Plan + Ideology + Hegel w/Criteria for Evaluation of Proust Assignments

I. In-class writing: a scene of "misrecognition" from everyday life.

II. Remarks on the evaluation of the Proust assignment, returned at end of class.

III. Review of our "formulae" for ideology, developed last class.

IV. Hegel's "struggle to the death for recognition" and the resultant dialectic of lord and bondsman (commonly modified to "master" and "slave").

V. Hegel's abstraction concretely manifested in the struggle between the bourgeoisie and proletariat in The Communist Manifesto. "All that is solid melts into air..."

2 Dec, Thurs | Norton: Althusser, "from Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" (1483-1509); Rich (1759-1781). Freud Paper due electronically by noon.

An mp3 recording of this session is available on Blackboard (direct link).

Whiteboards: Freudian hermeneutics applied to literature? + Individual: Dream :: Social Formation: Ideology? + Intersubjectivity

I. No in-class writing.

II. Two questions to consider in the wake of the Freud paper: Can the techniques of Freudian hermeneutics be applied to texts other than dreams? Can we draw an analogy between the individual and his or her dream, and a society (or social formation) and its ideology?

III. Preview of the final exam. Its structure and time frame.

IV. Review of Hegel's master-slave dialectic.

V. Lacan's hypothesis concerning "the mirror stage." Misrecognition immanent to the formation of the human subject. Identification with one's image (the imaginary order) and, later, with one's name (and thus place within the symbolic order).

7 Dec, Tues | Norton: Spivak (2193-2208); recommended (but won't be on final) Jameson (1932-1975).

An mp3 recording of this session is available on Blackboard (direct link).

Whiteboards: Althusser, RSA/ISA + Additional Eval. Questions

I. Course evaluations.

II. Althusser on ideology. The RSA (repressive state apparatus) and the ISA (ideological state apparatus). Link back to Gramsci.

III. Remarks about structure of final.

IV. Passage review.

9 Dec, Thurs | Concluding remarks

Forecast: Concluding reflections and review for the final.

Finals Week

Closed-book, closed-note cumulative final exam: Tuesday, December 14, 9:30-11:30am, 335 Stevens (normal room). Blue books provided, bring a favorite pen or two.