FEMININITY , NARRATIVE AND PSYCHOANALYSIS--Juliet Mitchell

FEMININITY, NARRATIVE AND PSYCHOANALYSIS
Juliet Mitchell

[ This post is an attempt to explain the essay to undergraduate students of Indian Universities. ]
Dr. S. Sreekumar

Juliet Mitchell——a brief biographical note

Juliet Mitchell was born in New Zealand in 1940. Later her family moved to London. She read English at Oxford and taught at the universities of Leeds and Reading. In the 1960s, Mitchell was actively involved in politics and was on the editorial committee of the journal, New Left Review. In 1974 she published Psychoanalysis and Feminism and subsequently trained at the institute of Psychoanalysis. At present she works as a psychoanalyst in London.

Feminism and Psychoanalysis——certain issues

THE DECONSTRUCTIVE ANGEL--M.H.ABRAMS

THE DECONSTRUCTIVE ANGEL

M.H.ABRAMS

Critical summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar for students of Indian Universities

[The PAPER is closely linked to ‘The Critic as Host’ by J. Hillis Miller, the summary of which is available in this blogspot]

M.H.Abrams——a brief biography

Meyer Howard Abrams (M.H. Abrams) was an American literary critic known for his works on English Romanticism. He was also the editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature.  

Abrams was born on July 23, 1912, in New Jersey as the son of East European Jewish immigrants. He was the first in his family to go to college. He entered Harvard University as an undergraduate in 1930. After earning his bachelor’s degree, Abrams won a Henry Fellowship to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where his tutor was I. A. Richards. He returned to Harvard for graduate school and received a master's degree and a Ph.D.

THE CRITIC AS HOST--J. HILLIS MILLER

THE CRITIC AS HOST

J. Hillis Miller

[Critical summary and analysis by Dr. S. Sreekumar. Exclusively meant for students of Indian Universities]

J. Hillis Miller

Biographical note

Joseph Hillis Miller, Jr. (1928) is an important humanities and literature scholar. He was among the pioneers in introducing phenomenology and deconstruction to Anglo-American audience.

From 1952 to 1972, Miller taught at Johns Hopkins University. In 1972, he joined Yale University where he taught for fourteen years. At Yale, he worked alongside prominent literary critics like Paul de Man and Geoffrey Hartman, where they were collectively known as the Yale School of deconstruction¹.

The Insistence of the Letter in the Unconscious--Jacques Lacan

The Insistence of the Letter in the Unconscious

Summary of the essay—Lecture notes by S. Sreekumar

                       PART II

“The Insistence of the letter in the Unconscious” was originally delivered as a lecture at the Sorbonne in 1957.

David Lodge writes about the apparent difficulty of understanding Lacan thus:

“Lacan was a notoriously, wilfully difficult writer, and the present editor (Lodge himself) certainly does not claim fully to understand everything in this essay. The algebraic formulae for metaphor and metonymy, for instance, seem designed to mystify and intimidate rather than to shed light.”

Summary of the essay

The Insistence of the Letter in the Unconscious--Jacques Lacan

The Insistence of the Letter in the Unconscious

Summary of the essay in two parts

Part I 

A General Assessment of Lacan 

[ It is hoped that this introduction will provide an overview of the main ideas propounded by Lacan]

Study materials for research scholars of Indian Universities.

Dr. S. Sreekumar

JACQUES LACAN (1901 – 81)

Introduction

Lacan is the most important psychoanalyst since Freud. Lacan’s works have changed the discipline both as a theory of the mind and as clinical practice so much so that over 50 % of the world’s analysts now employ Lacanian methods.

The Resistance to Theory--Paul de Man

The Resistance to Theory

Paul de Man

Study materials for research scholars of Indian Universities.

Dr. S. Sreekumar

Paul de Man (December 6, 1919 – December 21, 1983) was one of the most prominent literary critics in the United States who succeeded in bringing German and French philosophical approaches into Anglo-American literary studies and critical theory. De Man’s companionship with Jacques Derrida proved very influential as both took up the epistemological difficulties inherent in any textual, literary, or critical activity. This approach aroused considerable opposition, which de Man attributed to "resistance" inherent in the difficult enterprise of literary interpretation itself.

THE VICTORIAN AGE--Blamires

THE VICTORIAN AGE

 Blamires

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers—

Approaches--Unit III

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Syllabus for Unit III

The Romantic Age (Blamires, pp 217-380)

The Victorian Age

The Twentieth Century I: The Early Decades

The Twentieth Century II: Post-war Developments

Introduction

The Victorian Age was a period of consolidation in terms of peace and prosperity, in terms of wealth and power and in terms of artistic productivity. The rule of Queen Victoria began with the stage coach and ended with a network of railways. It was comparatively an age of peace though the Crimean War (1853-56) and the Indian Mutiny (1857-58) can be cited as exceptions. On the Origin of Species  by Darwin opened up debate in the intellectual circles. The Oxford movement by Newman created much confusion in religion. Though there were many doubts and uncertainties in the Victorian Age, these can never be compared to the tumultuous and catastrophic events of the twentieth century. Thus the twentieth century looks back at the Victorian Period as a stable era.  

The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis, Lynn White, Jr.

The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis

Lynn White, Jr.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ON LYNN WHITE   (Cited from the internet)

Lynn Townsend White Jr. (April 29, 1907 – March 30, 1987) was a professor of medieval history at Princeton from 1933 to 1937, and at Stanford from 1937 to 1943. He was president of Mills College, Oakland, from 1943 to 1958 and a professor at University of California, Los Angeles from 1958 until 1987. Lynn White helped to found The Society of History and Technology (SHOT) and was its president from 1960 to 1962. He won the Pfizer Award for "Medieval Technology and Social Change" from the History of Science Society (HSS) and the Leonardo da Vinci medal and Dexter prize from SHOT in 1964 and 1970. He was president of the History of Science Society from 1971 to 1972, of The Medieval Academy of America from 1972-1973, and the American Historical Association in 1973.

Literary Studies in an Age of Environmental Crisis Cheryll Glotfelty--Ecocriticism

Literary Studies in an Age of Environmental Crisis

Cheryll Glotfelty

An avid reader, nature lover, and concerned planetary citizen, Cheryll Glotfelty was hired by the University of Nevada, Reno, in 1990, as America's first professor of literature and environment.

In 1996, she and Harold Fromm co-edited The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, a critical anthology that helped green the field of literary studies. She is co-founder and past president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment. Glotfelty has offered graduate seminars on ecocriticism and theory; regionalism and bioregionalism; literature of the wild; representing the other--animals in literature; environmental justice literature and theory; and ecofeminism.

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: POST-WAR DEVELOPMENTS--Blamiers

The Twentieth Century I: The Early Decades PART II--Blamires

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers—

Approaches--Unit III

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Syllabus for Unit III
The Romantic Age (Blamires, pp 217-380)
The Victorian Age
The Twentieth Century I: The Early Decades
The Twentieth Century II: Post-war Developments

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: POST-WAR DEVELOPMENTS

English literary criticism was strongly influenced by European thoughts and ideas during the post-war period. This gave a cosmopolitan character to studies in literary criticism.

Since the Second World War we see an escalation in the way fashions succeed each other in the field of literary criticism. Moreover in the early years of the century there was always a link between creative writing and critical output. But this relationship totally disappeared at the post-war period.

Before looking at the various theories that flourished during this period, let us look at the contributions of two major critics whom it is difficult to classify as belonging to particular schools.

The Twentieth Century I: The Early Decades PART II--Blamires

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers—

Approaches--Unit III

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Syllabus for Unit III
The Romantic Age (Blamires, pp 217-380)
The Victorian Age
The Twentieth Century I: The Early Decades
The Twentieth Century II: Post-war Developments

The Twentieth Century: The Early Decades

PART II

[the study  material is in two parts]

Academic Criticism

George Saintsbury,  Herbert Grierson,  A. E. Housman, A.C. Bradley, E. K. Chambers and W.P.Ker

Most of the critics of the early twentieth century were creative writers. None of them except Ford held academic positions or were involved in the teaching of English Literature.

However a group of critics who were mainly teachers of literature dominated the academic arena. Students of literature turned towards them for critical help. The average student was more indebted to them than to James or Yeats, Ford or Eliot. These critics kept alive the tradition of narrative criticism in which writers were historically placed, their works explored and their personalities explored. These critics  were known as academic critics. They are George Saintsbury,  Herbert Grierson,  A. E. Housman, A.C. Bradley, E. K. Chambers and W.P.Ker.

The Twentieth Century I: The Early Decades--Blamires--Unit III

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers—

Approaches--Unit III

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Syllabus for Unit IIIThe Romantic Age (Blamires, pp 217-380)The Victorian AgeThe Twentieth Century I: The Early DecadesThe Twentieth Century II: Post-war Developments

The Twentieth Century I: The Early Decades

PART I

[the study  material is in two parts]

The early twentieth century was a period of extraordinary literary activity in England. The publishing industry was expanded and modernized as there was a huge demand for books. There were various reasons for this:

·        Elementary education became universal

·        The public library system was developed

·        There was reaction against excessive working hours from the trade unions and laborers got vast increase in leisure.

Feminism and Critical Theory-- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

Bharathiar University MPhil (English) Study Materials -- PAPER II – APPROACHES TO LITERATURE

Unit V

Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak (Lodge & Wood, pp. 493 -509)

Feminism and Critical Theory

Gayatri  Chakravorty  Spivak

[This is a simplified version of the original]

Dear Scholar, 

In this blogspot, you get another detailed summary of the same essay. but as many students requested a simplified version of the same, I am publishing this summary. This summary will be more useful from the examination point of view. 

Introduction

Gayatri  Chakravorty  Spivak is the translator of Jacques Derrida’s De la Grammatologie (Of Grammatology)  [notes -1].  She introduced deconstructive critical strategies into cultural studies, especially feminism. [notes-2]. Deconstruction underlines the inherent capacity of the language to suggest ‘supplementary’ or excess semantic associations. [notes 3].

Psychology and Literature--Carl Gustav Jung

Bharathiar University  

MPhil (English) Study Materials  

PAPER II – APPROACHES TO LITERATURE

Unit IV

C.G.Jung (Lodge, pp 175-227)

Psychology and Literature

Carl Gustav Jung

By S. Sreekumar

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 –1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung’s work has been influential not only in psychiatry but also in anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy and religious studies. Freud wanted him to be his potential heir to carry on his "new science" of psychoanalysis. However, Jung's researches and personal vision were different from Freud’s and a breach took place between the two.

POPE AS A CRITIC—ADDITIONAL NOTES FOR SCHOLARS AND TEACHERS

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE 18^th CENTURY –Blamiers

The Eighteenth Century I: The Age of Addison and Pope

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers—

Approaches--Unit II

Additional critical materials for students of M.Phil (English)

S. SREEKUMAR

POPE AS A CRITIC—ADDITIONAL NOTES FOR SCHOLARS AND TEACHERS

[Teachers of MPhil classes are advised to provide additional learning materials for their scholars as the materials from the text books are not sufficient for a clear estimate of the critic concerned]

ALEXANDER POPE

As a critic Pope is remembered more for his Essay on Criticism than for his other critical writings—Preface to the Works of Shakespeare, Imitation of the Epistles of Horace to Augustus & Preface to the Translation of the Iliad.

ADDISON AS A CRITIC—ADDITIONAL NOTES FOR SCHOLARS AND TEACHERS

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE 18^th CENTURY –Blamiers

The Eighteenth Century I: The Age of Addison and Pope

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers—

Approaches--Unit II

Additional critical materials for students of M.Phil (English)

S.Sreekumar 

ADDISON AS A CRITIC—ADDITIONAL NOTES FOR SCHOLARS AND TEACHERS

[Teachers of MPhil classes are advised to provide additional learning materials for their scholars as the materials from the text books are not sufficient for a clear estimate of the critic concerned]

JOSEPH ADDISON (1672-1719)

Addison’s critical papers appeared mostly in the SPECTATOR.

His aim was to bring ‘philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea tables and in coffee houses’. Thus, Addison’s writings were not for the learned people but for the common man. This gave a new turn to English Criticism.

The Eighteenth Century I: The Age of Addison and Pope, Blamiers— Approaches--Unit II

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE 18^th CENTURY –Blamiers

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers—

Approaches--Unit II

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

The Eighteenth Century I: The Age of Addison and Pope

Introduction

·        The 18^th century was a period of calm and prosperity in England. Industry and commerce were rapidly expanding. Agriculture and sheep farming also showed much progress in this century.

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE 17th CENTURY, Unit II The Seventeenth Century II: Rymer to Dennis–Blamiers

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE 17^th CENTURY –Blamiers

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers—

Approaches--Unit II

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Unit II The Seventeenth Century II: Rymer to Dennis

The public who came to witness the Restoration Dramas were very different from those who went to the Globe to see the plays of Shakespeare. The Restoration theatre provided amusement for a leisured and degenerate society. Puritans shunned it. Respectable Londoners seldom visited it.

CRISIS IN ORIENTALISM--Edward Said

CRISIS IN ORIENTALISM

Edward Said

[  Lecture notes by S. Sreekumar for PG students]

Edward Said—A Biographical Note

Edward Said was a Palestinian born professor and scholar. A literary theorist and academician, he wrote many books on literary criticism, musical criticism, and issues of post-colonialism. He served as a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University (former American President Barak Obama was his student at Columbia University) in a teaching career that spanned four decades. He served as Visiting Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard College in 1974.He had a deep interest in politics and represented the Palestinian National Council (PNC) as an independent member from 1977 to 1991.

Unit II The Seventeenth Century I--John Dryden

Unit II The Seventeenth Century I: Peacham, Drayton, Reynolds, Milton (Blamires, pp. 68-216)

Unit II The Seventeenth Century I: Peacham, Drayton, Reynolds, Milton (Blamires, pp. 68-216)

JOHN DRYDEN

(1631-1700)

I. His Critical Works

The following are the critical works of Dryden: -

1.An Essay of Dramatic Poesy

2.The Apology for Heroic Poetry.

3.The Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy.

4.Preface to the Fables.

Dryden has also spoken about the nature and functions of poetry.

II. The Nature of Poetry.

Unit II The Seventeenth Century I: Peacham, Drayton, Reynolds, Milton (Blamires, pp. 68-216)

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers— Approaches--Unit II,

Unit II 

The Seventeenth Century I: Peacham, Drayton, Reynolds, Milton (Blamires, pp. 68-216)

The Seventeenth Century II: Rymer to Dennis

The Eighteenth Century I: The Age of Addison and Pope

The Eighteenth Century II: Johnson and his Successors

Unit II The Seventeenth Century I: Peacham, Drayton Reynolds, Milton.

The seventeenth century was a turbulent period in the political as well as literary history of England. The Civil War of 1642-51, the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Commonwealth government and the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell created disorder and confusion in society so much so that quiet reflection on works of literature was nearly impossible.

PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH

PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH

Study Materials for MPhil students of Indian Universities

Dr. S. Sreekumar

1.  Aims and Principles

ÖOf all the critical approaches to literature, this has been one of the most controversial, the most abused and the least appreciated.

ÖThe crucial limitation of the psychological approach is its aesthetic inadequacy.

ÖIt can seldom account for the beautiful symmetry of a well-wrought poem or of a fictional masterpiece.

A. Abuses and misunderstandings of the Psychological approach

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE, PART V—Bacon & Jonson

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE –Blamiers

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers—

Approaches--Unit I

The RENAISSANCE V

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Note: The summary is in FIVE parts

PART V—Bacon & Jonson

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

In the second book of The Advancement of Learning Bacon attempts a systematic study of various branches of learning.

·        Bacon argues that a man’s understanding has three parts—memory, imagination & reason.

·        History is related to memory, poetry to imagination and philosophy to reason.

·        Similarly theology consists of history, parables (Poetry) and doctrine.

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE IV

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE –Blamiers

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers—

Approaches--Unit I

The RENAISSANCE IV

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Note: The summary is in FIVE parts

PART IV—CLASSICAL & NATIVE VERSIFICATION

Nothing has been more unproductive in the history of English criticism than the debate about classical meters.

Conservatives tried to apply the quantitative meter of Latin language on to English verse. But Latin meter was totally inapplicable to English verse. Latin syllable ending in two consonants must be accounted ‘long’.  This was inapplicable and led to clumsiness when imposed on English verse.

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE--PART III—THE DEFENCE OF POETRY——Stephen Gosson & Sir Philip Sidney

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE --Blamiers

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers--

Approaches--Unit I

The RENAISSANCE III

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Note: The summary is in FIVE parts

PART III—THE DEFENCE OF POETRY——Stephen Gosson & Sir Philip Sidney

In 1579 a critical controversy developed in England—the attack on poetry and its defence—partly occasioned by the impact of the Renaissance. Poetry and drama came under attack form the Puritans for their ‘harmful’ effect on morals. The attack was led by Stephen Gosson in a treatise entitled The School of Abuse dedicated without permission to Sir Philip Sidney.

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE--THE ART OF POETRY—— George Gascoigne & George Puttenham

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE --Blamiers

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers--

Approaches--Unit I

The RENAISSANCE II

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Note: The summary is in FIVE parts

PART II THE ART OF POETRY—— George Gascoigne & George Puttenham

a. George Gascoigne (1534-77)

Gascoigne was a poet and dramatist. His ‘Certain Notes of Instruction Concerning the Making of Verse or Rhyme in English’ is a study of English versification. He explains the system of scansion to some extent, but adds that rolling rhythms and resonant vocabulary are not enough to write poetry.

·        There must be ‘invention’. Descriptions that are commonplace and obvious (‘crystal eye’, ‘cherry lips’) must be avoided.

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE--Blamiers

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE--Blamiers

M. Phil English, Bharathiar University--Blamiers--Approaches--Unit I

The RENAISSANCE

BRITISH CRITICISM DURING THE RENAISSANCE

Summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar

Note: The summary is in FIVE parts

PART I

INTRODUCTION

The term ‘Renaissance’ stands for different things for different people. For the students of literature, the term signifies the rediscovery of the classics of Greece and Rome. Scholars edited, translated and commented on the classics during the Renaissance.  With the fall of Constantinople in 1453, scholars drifted to many European cities carrying the literary treasures with them.

With the Renaissance, Europe came into contact with Greek and Latin Classics. This led to an intellectual/cultural awakening in Europe.  Till the Renaissance human activity was centered in the divine scheme of creation and redemption. Classical writers had placed man in the centre of the universe and the ideals of ‘Humanism’ spread throughout Europe.

Classical styles and genres created new models of art. In this new type, poise and polish, balance and decorum became key factors.