Modern Critical Theory Public Lectures
Once again the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory will be offering semi-formal public lectures for graduate students on the history of critical theory. These lectures, each of which will be followed by open discussion, will take place from 7:30-9:00 pm in Gregory Hall during the first eleven Tuesdays of the fall semester. The first lecture will take place on August 30 in Gregory 100; all future lectures will take place in Gregory 223. The lectures are open to all interested graduate students. For more information, contact Michael Rothberg (mpr@uiuc.edu) or check the Unit for Criticism website: http://criticism.english.uiuc.edu
Background readings for the lectures will be available on e-reserves under English 581/Rothberg (except in the case of Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals and Foucault’s History of Sexuality, which interested students should obtain themselves).
Schedule
August 30: Kant: Jennifer K. Uleman (Philosophy, SUNY Purchase) [Gregory 100]
- Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. and ed. Paul Guyer and Allen Wood, "'B' Preface," (pp. 106-124 [esp. 106-113]; Xerox)
- Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, trans. and ed. Mary Gregor, "Preface" and "Introduction," (pp. 3-13)
- Kant, Critique of Judgment (selections in Norton)
- Fredrick Beiser, “The Enlightenment and Idealism,” from Cambridge Companion to German Idealism (Xerox and e-reserves)
Secondary:
- Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, "On the Clue to the Discovery of all Pure Concepts of the Understanding" (pp. 201-217; xerox)
- Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, "On the Principles of Pure Practical Reason," (pp. 17-37; xerox)
September 6: Hegel: William Schroeder (Philosophy)
- G.W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A.V. Miller (Introduction, “Sense-Certainty,” and “Self-Consciousness” [through “lordship and bondage”], pp. 46-66 & 104-119; xerox)
- Hegel, Lectures on Fine Art (selections in Norton)
September 13: Marx and Marxism: Jim Hansen (English)
- Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, selections from Norton
- Georg Lukacs, History and Class Consciousness (selections)
- Theodor W. Adorno, “On the Fetish Character in Music and the Regression of Listening”
September 20: Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals: Melissa Orlie (Political Science)
- Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals. Selections: Preface, Essay I: sections 1-2, 6-7, 10-13; Essay II: sections 1-12, 16-18, 21-24; Essay III: sections 1-2, 7-21, 23-28 (pp. 15-23, 24-26, 31-34, 36-46, 57-63,57-79, 84-88, 91-96, 97-99, 106-43,145-63)
September 27: Structuralism: Andrea Goulet (French)
- Readings by F. Saussure, R. Barthes (from Mythologies), and R. Jakobson from Norton
- Roland Barthes, “The Structuralist Activity”
- Claude Levi-Strauss, “The Structural Study of Myth,” from Structural Anthropology & "A Native Community and its Life-Style," from Tristes Tropiques
October 4: Freud: Lilya Kaganovsky (Slavic/Comp Lit)
- Sigmund Freud, “Fetishism” and selections from The Interpretation of Dreams (Norton)
- S. Freud and J. Breuer, Studies in Hysteria (introduction and Anna O. case study)
Recommended Reading:
- Hunter, Dianne -- "Ch. 4: Hysteria, psychoanalysis, and feminism: The case of Anna O.Garner." in Shirley Nelson , Claire Kahane and Madelon Sprengnether, ed. The (M)other tongue : essays in feminist psychoanalytic interpretation.
October 11: Lacan and Kristeva: Nancy Blake (Comp Lit)
- Jacques Lacan, “The Mirror Stage,” “The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious,” & “The Signification of the Phallus” in Norton
- Julia Kristeva, “Approaching Abjection,” from Powers of Horror or ?
October 18: Foucault: Matti Bunzl (Anthropology)
- Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An Introduction
October 25: Derrida: Jane Gallop (English, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
- Jacques Derrida, “Signature Event Context”
November 1: Cultural Studies: Williams, Hall, etc.: Cary Nelson (English): Readings TBA
November 8: Queer Theory: Stephanie Foote (English)
- Judith Butler, “Imitation and Gender Insubordination” and “Critically Queer”
- Eve K. Sedgwick, “Introduction: Axiomatic,” from Epistemology of the Closet
November 15: Postcolonial Theory: Jed Esty (English)
- Frantz Fanon, "The Negro and Recognition," from Black Skin, White Masks (pp 210-222;)
- Edward Said, “Introduction,” from Orientalism (Norton)
- Homi Bhabha, “The Commitment to Theory” (Norton)
- Gayatri Spivak, from Critique of Postcolonial Reason (pp. 112-140)