English 5357: Rhetoric of
MTWR: 10:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
201
Summer I, 2003
Professor Kevin J. Porter
This
reading-intensive course will survey classical, medieval, modern, and
(primarily) contemporary theories reading and interpretation, including
traditions of scriptural exegesis, textual criticism, literary theory,
philosophy, feminist theory, and legal hermeneutics. Our goal will be to sample
the diversity of ways in which “readers,” “texts,” and their interanimations
have been conceptualized and to discuss the ethical implications that follow
from these hermeneutical approaches.
Adler,
Mortimer J., & Van Doren, Charles. (1972). How to Read a Book (Rev. ed.).
Barthes, Roland.
(1973). The Pleasure of the Text.
Barthes, Roland. (1977). Image, Music, Text.
Bruns, Gerald L. (1992). Hermeneutics Ancient and
Modern.
Dretske, Fred I. (1999). Knowledge and the Flow of
Information.
Fish,
Hirsch, E. D., Jr.
(1967). Validity in
Interpretation.
Iser, Wolfgang. (1976). The Act of
Meyer, Michel. (1995).
Of Problematology:
Philosophy, Science, and Language.
Ricouer, Paul. (1976). Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the
Surplus of Meaning.
Smith, Frank. (1994). Understanding Reading (5th ed.).
Tanselle, G. Thomas. (1992). A Rationale of
Textual Criticism.
Assignments
for the course: a discussion facilitation, an oral presentation, 2 short papers
(1 based on the oral presentation), and a cumulative final exam. Late
assignments will not be accepted (short papers may be emailed to me in
advance).
Discussion
Facilitation 5%
Oral
presentation 15%
Short
paper 1, based on oral presentation 25%
Short
paper 2 35%
Final
examination 20%
Not completing any of these assignments
constitutes grounds for failing the course.
Note: I reserve the right to modify, as
necessary, the readings and other assignments listed on this syllabus. All
readings marked **** are located as .pdf (Acrobat)
files on a CD-ROM I will distribute the first day of class.
T 5/27 Introduction
to course
W 5/28 Scriptural
hermeneutics I
Bruns, Hermeneutics
Ancient and Modern (Ch. 1-6)
**** Augustine, On Christian Teaching (selection)
****
**** Fearghail, “Philo and the Fathers:
The Letter and the Spirit”
**** Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed (selections)
**** Watson, “Origen and the Literal
Interpretation of Scripture”
R 5/29 Scriptural
hermeneutics II
Bruns, Hermeneutics Ancient
and Modern (
****
**** Preus, From Shadow to Promise (introduction)
**** Wood, Captive to the Word (Ch. 11-15)
M 6/2 Scriptural
hermeneutics III
**** McGoldrick, “Liturgy: The Context of Patristic Exegesis”
**** Pontifical Biblical Commission, “The Interpretation of the Bible in
the Church”
**** Pope Leo XIII, “Providentissimus Deus”
**** Pope Pius X, “Pascendi Dominici Gregis”
**** Porter, Meaning, Language, and Time (Ch. 2: selection)
T 6/3 Bruns, Hermeneutics
Ancient and Modern (
**** Emerson, “The American Scholar”
**** Emerson, “Circles”
**** Nietzsche (selections)
**** Schopenhauer, “On Books and Writing”
**** Schopenhauer, “On Thinking for Yourself”
**** Yeats, “The Scholars”
W 6/4 Adler
& Van Doren, How
to Read a Book
R 6/5 Barthes,
Image, Music, Text
**** Foucault, “What Is an Author?”
M 6/9 Barthes,
The Pleasure of the Text
Derrida,
“Force and Signification”
T 6/10 Bruns, Hermeneutics Ancient
and Modern (Ch. 9-11)
Iser, The Act of
**** Eco, “Introduction: The Role of the
Reader”
W 6/11 Bruns, Hermeneutics
Ancient and Modern (
Ricouer, Interpretation
Theory
**** Porter, Meaning, Language, and Time (Ch. 4: selection)
**** Ricouer, “Structure, Word, Event”
R 6/12 Hirsch, Validity in Interpretation
Tanselle, A Rationale of Textual
Criticism
**** Hirsch & Harrington, “Measuring the Communicative Effectiveness of Prose”
M 6/16 Fish, Is There a Text in This Class? (Ch. 1-12)
T 6/17 Fish, Is There a Text in This Class? (Ch.
13-16)
**** Dasenbrock, “Do We Write the Texts We Read?”
****
**** Porter, “Literature Reviews Re-Viewed”
W 6/18 Bruns, Hermeneutics
Ancient and Modern (
**** Brandt, “The Message Is the Massage: Orality and Literacy Once More”
**** Hartman, Criticism in the Wilderness (
**** Peirce, Feminism and the Politics of
**** Radway, “Interpretive Communities and
Variable Literacies”
**** Worsham, “Writing against Writing: The Predicament of Ecriture Féminine in Composition”
R 6/19 Meyer, Of Problematology
**** Kintsch and Vipond, “Reading Comprehension in Readability and Educational Practice and
Psychological Theory.”
M 6/23 Smith, Understanding Reading
**** Colomb and
Williams, “Perceiving Structure in Professional
Prose”
T 6/24 Dretske, Knowledge
and the Flow of Information
**** Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (§153-§184)
W 6/25 Legal
hermeneutics I
****
**** Dallmeyer, “Hermeneutics and the Rule of Law”
****
**** Glass, “A Hermeneutical Standpoint”
**** Goldsworthy, “Legislative Intentions, Legislative
Supremacy, and Legal Positivism”
**** Scharwzschild,
“Mad Dogmas and Englishmen: How Other People Interpret and Why”
R 6/26 Legal
hermeneutics II
**** Ball, “Constitutional
Interpretation and Conceptual Change”
**** Dasenbrock, Truth and Consequences (
**** Dworkin, “Law and Interpretation”
**** Friedman and Smith, “The Sedimentary Constitution”
****
**** Perry, “Why Constitutional Theory Matters
to Constitutional Practice (and Vice Versa)”
**** Sinnott-Armstrong,
“
**** Werbach, “Looking It Up”
M 6/30 Final
examination