What is Literature?

Use the following resources to give a 5 minute presentation on a school of literary criticism.

Terry Eagleton's What is Literature?
Introduction to Modern Literary Theory

See pp. 1328-1338 in our Short Fiction anthology

Consider these guidelines:

P: The 5-10 minute presentation includes a brief handout, perhaps no more than a page,OR a powerpoint which explains the method of criticism, provides key theorists, and then demonstrates the theory in action by example. The presentation may also discuss the strengths and weaknesses, or major assumptions, of their approach to studying literature.


Josh T Hannah New Criticism Wednesday, 9/8
Josh B Shana Mythological criticism/archetypal criticsm Wednesday 9/8
Tal Rachel Lazer psychoanalytic Mon 9/13
Aaron Keenan Emily Marxism Mon 9/13
Danny Hillary Ayelet feminism Mon 9/13
Rami Noah Sami post colononialsim Tues 9/14
Dena Sam Sharona structuralism Tues 9/14
Jared Ilan reader response Wed 9/15

Another Hint

Okay, think of a minor character--Hindley, Isabella, Lockwood, Joseph--again, basically anyone not named Heathcliff or Catherine, you could say. Look at the way the minor characters are characterized against the main. The differences may illuminate the main character's strengths, flaws, weaknesses, desires...For example. Hindley torments Heathcliff, in large part because of a perceived status--Heathcliff has no name, no family history, a man without an identity. You could develop how that relationship(Hindley vs. Heathcliff) shaped the monsterous, relentless side of Heathcliff, meanwhile Hindley slowly and surely descended into a kind of nihilistic wastrel, dying broke and in obscurity. In general, for this kind of essay, we want to reveal, discuss, CHARACTER(in my example, Heathcliff's character) and looking at the relationship with a minor character, a foil, can just be another way of doing it. If "compare and contrast" seems a prompt you're more comfortable with, why, go with that.

A hint...

A brief search of the term foil might render this definition:

characters whose actions and traits contrast each other in a way that gives us a better understanding of both of their characters.

One asks, who is a lesser character? Anyone but Heathcliff and Catherine, really. While it might be difficult to differentiate the VOICE of the various narrators--Nelly, Lockwood, Isabella, etc--they have "contrasting actions and traits" that help readers understand the central characters. You might build a response exploring the way Nelly reacts to both Heathcliff and Catherine, to give them greater relief(i.e. definition, resolution).

Good luck! I'll take questions.