Session 01: How to Do Literary Studies

1. Getting to Know Each Other

After you registered for the class, you were assigned a key word.

• Please go to the forum immediately below.
  

• Before presenting the definition for your key word, tell the other participants of this course about yourself:
  (a) Let them know your name! Since remembering names is hard, help your classmates by linking your name through alliteration (e.g. "Hi I am Caroline – a climber" OR "Hi, I am travel-loving Tom" etc.).
  (b) Furthermore, share with the other participants in our class the other subject(s) you are studying and the university you are studying at.
  (c) Introduce your key word – be brief in your explanation!
  

• After every participant has introduced him-/herself and their keywords, please complete the following short quiz. The quiz may include terms that have not been introduced by one of your fellow course participants. Do, however, try to guess the right answer - you will encounter all of these terms again during the semester!
  

2. How to Read a Text - Basics of Literary Analysis and Interpretation

3. Literary Analysis & Interpretation – Practice

Analyzing and interpreting literature needs constant practice. Please read Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s "The Yellow Wallpaper." This is a story about a woman who is forced to take a “rest cure,” a treatment offered in the 19th century for postpartum depression. The protagonist of the story is isolated on the top floor of a house and is not allowed to do any work.

Fact Sheet "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892)

• Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935)
  
• Central themes: gender inequality, isolation, patriarchy, class
• Central symbols: wallpaper, room, names
• Good to know: The idea for the story originated in the author’s own experience as a patient undergoing S.Weir Mitchell's rest cure.

In order to guide your analysis, please follow the following four steps while reading the excerpt:

Structure

• How is the plot structured?
• What is the framework of the story?
  

Style

• How is the narration carried out?
  
• What is the function/effect of the choice of narration?
  
• Is there any character development? If so, what is the development like?

Symbols

• Are there words that have meaning beyond the obvious ones?
  
• Do you find repeating images with heightened meaning?
  
• Can you detect other stylistic devices?
  

Conclusion

• What does the story add up to?
  
• What do your findings in style, symbol and structure tell you about the overarching meaning of the piece?
  

TASK B:

Select the best answers to the following multiple choice questions. Attention: for several questions more than one choice (e.g. two or more) is correct and all the correct ones are required to be picked!

4. Defining Your Individual Learning Objectives

Before we start off with the first literary history session next week, please use the following table (TASK B) to define your individual learning goals for this course.

5. Evaluation

Please complete the following evaluation after you have finished all the readings and assignments of this session.