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ENGL 485-02, Senior Seminar: The Return to Philogy, Fall 2009
Newstok, Scott L.
Newstok, Scott L.
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English, Department of, Syllabus, Curriculum, Academic departments, Text, 2009 Fall
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Abstract
A critical investigation of the contested notion of philology, the historical foundation for literary studies
today. In the nineteenth century, the term philology came to describe an approach to literature that
concentrated on reconstructing the history of languages; its monumental achievement is the Victorian
Oxford English Dictionary. For much of the twentieth century, however, such methods were often dismissed
as lacking theoretical sophistication. Yet many critics are now arguing for a return to philology as a
radical way to re-ground literary studies. This course will survey the fascinating tradition of philological
criticism, via figures such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Raymond Williams, Erich Auerbach, Paul de Man, and
Edward Said. We will test their insights through selected works of pre-1800 literature, in which authors
such as Geoffrey Chaucer, William Tyndale, William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Johnson
enacted proto-philological meditations (including troubling debates surrounding English translations of the
Bible). Independent projects will involve a philological study of a conceptually rich keyword, arguing for
its evolution across major Anglophone writers. Although the emphasis of the course will be on medieval
and renaissance texts, it may be possible for students to develop final projects that include modern
literature.
As the capstone seminar in the English department, students will be expected to evaluate scholarly
resources a regular basis; write brief but regular critical reflections on primary and secondary reading; and
complete a lengthy (20-25-page) final research project that argues for their own interpretation in dialogue
with the critical tradition within this field. While the topics for each section of the senior seminar diverge,
they all have in common an in-depth analysis of a particular issue or question during the first half of the
term, followed by intensive independent research in the second half of the term, culminating in a final
essay.
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This syllabus was submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs by the course instructor.