(Please also see the separate assignment describing the accompanying paper.)
Though this is billed as a presentation on “theory,” what I really want is a good reading of a text, conducted as a group, and informed by a theoretical approach. By “informed” I mean guided by a set of questions that pertain to one of the four theoretical approaches we’ve discussed: New Criticism, Deconstruction, Feminism, and Cultural Poetics. Another group will present a reading based on research into an author's biography.
Here are the specific tasks:
• Assign the class to read a primary text (a poem or short story).
• Assign a secondary text.
You’ve done very well as a group and as individuals with short stories, and you have come a long way with lyric poems. You may choose texts we have read or texts entirely new (though if they aren’t from our books you’ll have to provide me with a handout to photocopy).
You’ll be using the secondary text to explain one or more concepts and raise questions. 1) You may use a text I have assigned out of GLT or Dobie (the handouts); 2) You may use an explanation of your theory that you find on your own (I can help); 3) You may use a critical reading of a seemingly unrelated work and apply its concepts or questions to the text you have chosen (for example, the feminist reading of Heart of Darkness in our text may be useful in explaining a poem by Elizabeth Bishop).
The handout should guide you and your audience through the most difficult material. It must have distinct sections: