Irish 326/626:

Seminar in James Joyce

Fall 2009

John Rickard

Meets: BIOL 221

Thursday, 1:00 - 3:52 pm

 

 

 

"Circe," by John William Waterhouse
 

Office: Vaughan Lit 231

Office Hours: M 2:00-4:00 pm; W 2:00-3:00 pm; and by appointment

Office Phone: 577-1424

e-mail: rickard@bucknell.edu

WWW homepage: http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rickard

INTERNET RESOURCES: You can find links to Joyce resources on the internet at http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rickard/Joyce.html

TEXTBOOKS--CLICK HERE

 

SYLLABUS

This is a provisional syllabus; we will feel free to adjust it as the needs of the class demand. You are responsible for learning of and responding to syllabus changes during the semester. You must have the works read by the day they are listed on the syllabus.

  • August 27

Business matters; introduction to seminar and to Joyce. Discussion of Dubliners, especially "The Sisters," "Eveline," and "The Dead"-- please bring your text of Dubliners to class.

Web Resources: Dubliners Online–The complete text of the stories online at Project Gutenberg. See also the online concordance of Dubliners, which enables you to see all the occurrences of any word in the the entire text.
  • September 3

Finish "The Dead" and begin A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

READ: A Portrait of the Artist" (Joyce's first attempt, in 1904 -- read first three paragraphs in detail and skim the rest);

Required Reading: Morris Beja, "The Curve of an Emotion: The Years of the Portrait, 1904-1914," in James Joyce: A Literary Life, 40-62 (Book on reserve at Reserve Reading Desk; see also "Required Readings" folder in "Course Materials" section of Blackboard)

Extra Reading: Kevin Whelan, "The Memories of 'The Dead'"

Web Resources: A Portrait Online–The complete text of the novel available from Project Gutenberg. See also the online concordance of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which enables you to see all the occurrences of any word in the the entire text.
  • September 10

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Extra Reading: Hélène Cixous, "The Artist and the Law," pages 1-8 only of "Reaching the Point of Wheat, or a Portrait of the Artist as a Maturing Woman"
  • September 17

Finish A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and begin Ulysses–Read first episode

Required Reading: Morris Beja, "A Touch of the Artist: The Years of Ulysses, 1914-1922," in James Joyce: A Literary Life, pp. 63-87 (Book on reserve at Reserve Reading Desk; see also "Required Readings" folder in "Course Materials" section of Blackboard) and Margot Norris, "A Critical History of Ulysses”

Extra Readings: Garry Leonard, "When a Fly Gets in Your I: The City, Modernism, and Aesthetic Theory in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"

Ulysses Online–A "hypertextual, self-referential edition of Ulysses"
(NOTE: This is NOT the Gabler text, but a copy of the first edition of Ulysses–accordingly, do not quote this version as if it were the Gabler text in your reading blogs or papers. The Gabler text is not available on line.)

  • September 24

Ulysses–Episodes 1 and 2

Required Reading: T. S. Eliot,"Ulysses, Myth, and Order" and Rickard, Joyce's Book of Memory, "Introduction"

Extra Reading: Michael Groden, "Before and After: The Manuscripts in Textual and Genetic Criticism of Ulysses"
  • October 1

Ulysses–Episodes 3 and 4

Online Resource: Michael Groden's "Reading Ulysses" web pages provide useful summaries, outlines, and questions related to Ulysses

Extra Reading: Rickard, Joyce's Book of Memory, Chapter One: Personal Memory

PAPER 1 DUE BY 5:00 PM, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2
  • October 8

Ulysses–Episodes 5 and 6

Extra Reading: Garry Leonard, "James Joyce and Popular Culture"

 
  • October 15

Ulysses–Episodes 7 and 8 (Have a look at a hypermedia version episode 8–"Lestrygonians" (Blackboard; Course Materials)

Audio version of "Aeolus": http://www.talking-book-store.com/Title.aspx?titleId=8012 -- click "Hear Sample" and choose either Windows Media or Real Audio format

Extra Reading: Patrick McGee, "Machines, Empire, and the Wise Virgins: Cultural Revolution in 'Aeolus'" and/or Kimberly J. Devlin, “’I saw that picture somewhere’: Tracking the Symptom of the Sisters in Lazarus"
  • October 22

    Ulysses–Episodes 9 and 10

    Extra Reading: Hugh Kenner, "The Arranger"

  • October 29

Ulysses–Episodes 11 and 12

Extra Reading: Jennifer Wicke, "Joyce and Consumer Culture"
  • November 5

Ulysses–Episode 13 and 14

PLEASE NOTE: Visiting Scholar: Dr. Marc Manganaro, Dean and Professor of English, Gonzaga University; Professor Manganaro will attend class, and he will lecture on ’Falling Towers’: Joyce, Eliot, and the Salvage of Urban ‘Culture” in Smith Library at 7:30 pm.

Required Reading: Marc Manganaro, "Joyce and His Critics: Notes toward the Definition of Culture," from Culture, 1922: The Emergence of a Concept (Blackboard)

Extra Reading: Vicki Mahaffey, "Ulysses and the End of Gender," in A Companion to James Joyce's 'Ulysses,' ed. Margot Norris, pp. 129-168 (Blackboard) and/or Rickard, Joyce's Book of Memory, Chapter Five: Intertextual Memory

FINAL PAPER PROPOSAL DUE

  • November 12

    Ulysses–Episode 15

    Supplementary Reading (suggested, but not required): Rickard, Joyce's Book of Memory, Chapter Four: Textual Memory In Ulysses

    Extra Reading: Maud Ellmann, "The Ghosts of Ulysses," in James Joyce's Ulysses: A Casebook, ed. Derek Attridge, pp. 83-101

  • November 19

    Ulysses–Episodes 16 and 17

    Extra Reading: Rickard, Joyce's Book of Memory, "Conclusion" (On Reserve)

    or, Jacques Derrida, "Ulysses Gramophone: Hear say yes in Joyce," in A Companion to James Joyce's "Ulysses," pp. 69-90

 

  • November 26

NO CLASS -- THANKSGIVING BREAK

  • December 3

    Final Meeting (at my house; details to be announced) – Final Episode ("Penelope") and Excerpts from Finnegans Wake

    Suggested Reading: Karen Lawrence, "'Penelope': A Coda"

    Extra Reading: Ewa Ziarek, "The Female Body, Technology, and Memory in 'Penelope'," in James Joyce's Ulysses: A Casebook, ed. Derek Attridge, pp. 103-128 or Henry Staten, “The Decomposing Form of Joyce’s Ulysses”

FINAL PAPER DUE BEFORE MIDNIGHT ON 6 DECEMBER

ASSIGNMENTS:

Each student will be responsible for:

    • Making at least two oral presentations to the class, one of which will be a background report on a related text, a term, a theme in the primary texts, a critical approach to Joyce, a bibliographical problem, etc. The other will involve serving as "discussion leader" for one episode of Ulysses, which will require you to prepare for the class in which we will discuss that episode by reading the primary text carefully, checking the biographical sources for relevant contextual information, going over Joyce's "schemas," letters, and other relevant comments on the episode, and perusing a couple of critical articles. Please remember that the guidelines for making effective oral presentations include preparing in advance, finding interesting things to say, talking directly to your audience, and especially, not going way over or under your suggested time limit (in this case, approximately 15 minutes).

     

    • Preparing a detailed explication of one page of Ulysses and presenting it orally to me in my office. This explication should involve such specific things as pronoun references, syntax, unusual and foreign words, allusions, geographical references, and any cruxes the passage involves. For this assignment you may choose any one page of the "Proteus" episode. This report will be presented during the week of September 23 - September 28 (i.e., before the September 29 meeting).

     

    • Writing a paper (7-10 pages) on a critical problem or issue in "The Dead" and/or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. This paper will be due October 6, and research is not required.  I will discuss topic choices with you early in the semester.

     

    • Writing a longer (approximately 15-page) term paper on a topic of your choice (I will be happy to make suggestions). You should begin thinking about your topic as soon as possible. You must hand in or e-mail me a 150-200 word proposal describing your proposed project on or before November 5.

     

    • --Writing a weekly response paper due by 5:00 pm every Wednesday. Please refer to the web page on "Weekly Response Papers " for clarification and more information about this important assignment.

     

    • Most weeks, an "extra reading" entry will be placed on the syllabus. Each undergraduate student must pick one of these extra entries to address in his or her weekly writing ONCE during the semester (this will be part of the weekly writing grade): briefly summarize the extra reading's main points, discuss your sense of its usefulness or uselessness, and ask at least one question that you would like to discuss concerning this extra reading. Any additional "extra reading" entries will earn extra credit. Graduate students must turn in THREE responses to extra readings in the course of the semester; one of these responses must also include presentation of the extra reading essay to the class.

EVALUATION: The following percentages are meant to serve as approximate measures of the importance of various assignments.

Paper 1

20% of grade

Paper 2

30% of grade

Weekly Responses

25% of grade

Oral Presentations

20% of grade

Proteus Page Explication

5% of grade

There will be no exams in this seminar.

Note that there is no percentage of the grade listed above for class participation. Class participation is crucial in a seminar and is therefore full and active participation in discussions and activities is taken for granted as part of your overall grade for the class. Everyone must be present every week for such a class to work well; any absences will lower your grade in this course. More than two unexcused absences will result in an automatic grade of F for the seminar!

Syllabus, assignments, selected essays, bibliographies, and other important information for this class will be available on the web page for this class (http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rickard/JJSem.html). You can e-mail me at rickard@bucknell.edu. If you need to speak with me, you can call me or leave a message at 577-1424. My home phone is 523-7784.