Subjects

LECTURE SYLLABUS – WINTER SEMESTER

1. (30 Sep) Introduction
– current concepts of literature
– literary canon
2. (7 Oct) Figurative Language I – Metaphor, Metonymy, Synecdoche
– introduction to figurative language
– definitions
– implicit and explicit metaphor
– set metaphors, metaphor and cliché
– subtypes of metonymy
3. (14 Oct) Figurative Language II – Irony
– verbal and dramatic irony
– Socratic and Romantic irony
– the intertextual nature of irony
– irony & authorial/interpretative strategies
4. (21 Oct) Metre and Rhythm
– metre vs. rhythm
– metric feet, measure
– metrical systems
– free verse
– uses of metre
28 Oct No class (state holiday)
5. (4 Nov) Sound Patterning and Rhyme
– alliteration, assonance, consonance
– end rhyme, internal rhyme, near rhyme, eye-rhyme
– masculine and feminine rhyme
– basic rhyme patterns
– uses and functions of sound patterning
6. (11 Nov) Verse Form I
– terza rima
– four-line stanzas (in heroic poetry, hymns, ballads)
– sonnet
18 Nov No class (Humanities Week)
7. (25 Nov) Verse Form II
– villanelle
– sestina
– rhyme royal, ottava rima, Spenserian stanza
8. (2 Dec) Drama and Theatre I
– literary vs. dramatic text
– drama in performance
– theatrical styles and modes
9. (9 Dec) Drama and Theatre II
– history of staging conventions: Greek theatre, Elizabethan theatre, Restoration era theatre, Victorian melodrama, naturalism, symbolism, expressionism, epic theatre, theatre of the absurd, contemporary Western theatre
Mid-term essay due this week.
10. (16 Dec) Genre
– criteria of classification
– classification on the basis of formal arrangement
– classification on the basis of theme
– function and use of genre, genre expectations
11. (6 Jan) Intertextuality, Allusion, Metatextuality
– allusions and meaning
– the intertextual nature of meaning

RECOMMENDED READING:
Montgomery, M., et al., Ways of Reading (London: Routledge, 1992).
Green, K. and LeBihan, J., Critical Theory and Practice (London: Routledge, 1996).
Aristotle, Poetics (any edition).
Hobsbaum, P., Metre, Rhythm and Verse Form (Abingdon: Routledge, 1996).
Fludernik, M., An Introduction to Narratology (Abingdon: Routledge, 2009).
Pavis, P., Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts, and Analysis (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998).
Cuddon, A.J., The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (London: Penguin, 1992).
Preminger, A. and Brogan, T.V.F., The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).

ASSESSMENT
Double-subject Students
WS (zápočet): Attendance (max. 2 unexplained absences) and active participation in class, mid-term essay: interpretation of poetry (1 500 words).
SS (zápočet): Attendance (max. 2 unexplained absences) and active participation in class, mid-term essay: narrative analysis (1 500 words).
Criteria of Assessment: All assignments will be awarded a letter grade. Credit (zápočet) for each semester will be given on the basis of receiving a pass grade (i.e., A to C-) for both essay and participation.

Single-subject Students:
WS (zápočet): Attendance (max. 2 unexplained absences) and active participation in class, mid-term essay: interpretation of poetry (1 500 words), final test on poetics and genre definitions.
SS (zápočet, zkouška): Attendance (max. 2 unexplained absences) and active participation in class, mid-term essay: narrative analysis (1 500 words), final test on narrative strategies and approaches to text (literary theories).
Criteria of Assessment: All assignments will be awarded a letter grade. Credit (zápočet) for each semester will be given on the basis of receiving a pass grade (i.e., A to C-) for essay, test and participation each. The final exam grade (after the summer semester) will be calculated from the results in the individual assignments in the following manner:

Composition of Final Exam Grade
Participation winter semester 10%
Participation summer semester 10%
Essay winter semester 25%
Essay summer semester 25%
Test winter semester 15%
Test summer semester 15%

Value of Individual Letter Grades Awarded for Assignments
10% 15% 25%
A 10 15 25
A- 9 13.5 22.5
B 8.5 12.75 21.25
B- 8 12 20
C 7.5 11.25 18.75
C- 7 10.5 17.5

Conversion of Grades to a Final FFUK Exam Grade
FFUK Grade Letter Grade Percent (%) Generally Accepted Meaning
1 A 96-100 Outstanding work
A- 90-95
2 B 85-89 Good work, above average
B- 80-84
3 C 75-79 Acceptable work
C- 70-74
F F 0-69 Work that does not meet minimum standards for passing the course

Example:
A student’s performance has been graded as follows:
Participation winter semester A- = 9
Participation summer semester B = 8.5
Essay winter semester A- = 22.5
Essay summer semester C = 18.75
Test winter semester C = 11.25
Test summer semester B = 12.75
The final exam grade is 2 (B-) = 82.75%

For details of Ondřej Pilný's seminar, please go to the Moodle course site at https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=1113.
For details of Daniela Theinová's seminar please go to the Moodle course site at https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=6383.
For details of Clare Wallace's seminar, please go to the Moodle course site at https://dl1.cuni.cz/enrol/index.php?id=1115.

Last update: Pilný Ondřej, prof. Mgr., Ph.D. (08.09.2024)