Learning outcomes

Understand the structures and conventions of narrative texts (novel, short story, anecdote, etc.) and the basics of narratology. Begin to appreciate the complexity of the operation of literary interpretation. Discover the diversity (textual, chronological, cultural, geographical ...) of literary writing in English. Develop a taste for literature.

Goals

See "Acquis".

Content

Starting from a collection of carefully selected excerpts and short stories, and moving back and forth between the texts and the theoretical notes, the course gradually builds up a model of narratological analysis, i.e. a method for the description and interpretation of narratives (stories, novels, etc..). This model integrates textual, intertextual, historical and cognitive dimensions.

Table of contents

Analysis of one novel (Dracula, by Bram Stoker) and of a wide range of narrative texts (short stories, book chapters, fragments...) including E. Blyton, the Bible, Cervantes, J. Conrad, D. Defoe, Ch. Dickens, J. Joyce, D. Keyes, D.H. Lawrence, The Lion King, K. Mansfield, C. Ozick, J. Thurber, S. Townsend, V. Woolf, H.G. Wells, etc. In the discussion and application of the descriptive model the following categories are introduced: actantial model, basic plots, character, characterization, cognition, dramatic irony, events and storylines, fictionality, focalization, forms of discourse representation, framing, humour, intertextuality, language and language variation, media, metafiction, mise en abyme, narration, narrativity, narratology, space, specific interpretation strategies in a given reading community, story vs. text, suspense, time (story level), time (text level), world knowledge.

Exercices

A number of stories from the Reader are used as a basis for conversation exercises, aimed at helping the students both to develop their linguistic and communicative skills and to arrive at an adequate understanding of the stories.

Assessment method

Written exam, based entirely or for the greatest part on anonymized extracts from the literary texts on the reading list. Students must be able to identify the extracts and to put them into context. They will also be asked to apply the descriptive categories from the theoretical model to them.

Sources, references and any support material

Handbook (1) (anthology): Readings in English. An annotated anthology of narrative texts

Handbook (2) (theoretical section): A Model for the interpretation of Narrative Fiction

Bram Stoker, Dracula (Oxford University Press, "The World's Classics")

Language of instruction

Français