Representations of Disability in English Literature

fakultatywne

As English is the language of instruction, students with a good command of English (B2 or better) and basic familiarity with English literature are welcome to enrol.

This course is intended for students willing to develop their literary and analytical reading skills. Since the course offers a bulk of selected readings, students must be prepared to find time for self-study. Both full unabridged texts and selected readings (poems, articles and book chapters) will be assigned for reading throughout the semester.

This course offers instruction on the representations of disability in the history of English literature. This is an interdisciplinary course, straddling the disciplines of disability studies, literary studies, and cultural criticism.

This course offers instruction on the representations of disability in the history of English literature. This is an interdisciplinary course, straddling the disciplines of disability studies, literary studies, and cultural criticism. The first part of the course introduces the themes covered throughout the course including requirements; part two focuses on disability studies, theory and concepts; part three offers a reading of selected texts of English literature from Middle English to contemporary literature through the theoretical lens of disability theory; part four focuses on students’ fulfilment of term project and consolidates themes discussed throughout the course. Every class involves an introduction to the texts, theories and concepts under consideration, followed by an all-class analysis of selected texts. As this course relies on students’ active performance and seeks to foster students’ critical thinking skills, students will complete regular reading assignments and one written assignment. Students will be expected to submit their mock conference speech in writing and deliver the speech at the mock conference in the classroom.

Primary sources

Bronte, Charlotte, Charlotte Bronte, and Lucy Hughes-Hallett. Jane Eyre / Charlotte Bronte; With an Introduction by Lucy Hughes-Hallett. London: Everyman's Library, 1991.

Coetzee, J. M. Foe. London: Penguin, 2010.

Conrad, Joseph. The Secret Agent. London: Penguin Classics, 2016.

Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Oxford: David Fickling, 2012.

Hay, William, and Kathleen Viola James-Cavan. Deformity: An Essay. Victoria, B.C.: English Literary Studies, U of Victoria, 2004.

Langland, William, and Derek Pearsall. Piers Plowman. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 2014.

Lawrence, D. H. Lady Chatterley's Lover. London: Wordsworth Classics, 2007.

Rhys, Jean, and Angela Smith. Wide Sargasso Sea. London: Penguin Classics, an Imprint of Penguin, 2016.

Shakespeare, William, and Cedric Thomas. Watts. Richard III. Ware: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 2015.

Smollett, Tobias. The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle. London: Dutton, 1930.

Woolf, Virginia. Collected Essays. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1967.

Abrams, Meyer Howard. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York, NY: Norton, 2000.

Secondary sources

Barker, Clare, and Stuart Murray. The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Disability. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge UP, 2018.

Bolt, David. The Metanarrative of Blindness: A Re-reading of Twentieth-century Anglophone Writing. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2016.

Bradshaw, Michael. Disabling Romanticism Body, Mind, and Text.

Bérubé, Michael. The Secret Life of Stories: From Don Quixote to Harry Potter, How Understanding Intellectual Disability Transforms the Way We Read. New York: New York UP, 2018.

Davis, Lennard J. Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body. Kbh.: Nota, 2016.

Davis, Lennard J. The Disability Studies Reader. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.

Fordoński, Krzysztof. English Literature: An Anthology for Students. Poznań: Dom Wydawniczy Rebis, 2010.

Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia UP, 1996.

Hall, Alice. Literature and Disability. London: Routledge, 2016.

Linett, Maren Tova. Bodies of Modernism: Physical Disability in Transatlantic Modernist Literature. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2017.

Mitchell, David T., and Sharon L. Snyder. Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2011.

After taking this course the student will:

Knowledge

K_W03 know terminology from literary theory, disability studies and cultural criticism In-class discussions. Reading assignments

K_W07 Know how to interpret and analyse a literary text Reading assignment

K_W16 Understand the relationship between the analysed texts and their historical background In-class discussion

Skills

K_U02 Know how to analyse selected texts in keeping with given research methods Writing assignment

Social skills

K_K01 Understand the need to continue improving their skills after the course In-class discussions

K_K02 Understand the importance of teamwork Reading assignment (groupwork)

K_K03 Understand the dynamic of academic and cultural development and follow the emerging research methods Discussions, reading, writing.

Assessment is based on in-class performance, attendance (two uncertified absences allowed; third and fourth absence to certify and make up during tutor’s office hours; fifth absence and over - failure); timely submission of mock conference speech, and mock conference speech delivery.

Graded credit (zaliczenie na ocenę) based on timely submission of mock conference speech, and mock conference speech delivery.