Well, Kim, as you mentioned on my facebook, it is a great feeling to be done with my theory presentation. I agonized over having to read lit. theory from the day you assigned it. Thanks to Lukac’s abstractness I also had to read criticism on the theory. My head was swimming. Working through it with Cathy and Melanie brought a lot more to light though, as I am the kind of person that has to talk about things to work through them. Lukac’s notion of the originiation of the novel as a genre and his comparison to its characteristics in relation to the epic does create a fascinating arguement and perspective that could prove to be useful. However, I was more fascinated by Armstrong and Bahktin’s theories as they seemed more accessible and a little more aligned with my own thinking. It seems from reading other classmates posts that Bahktin and Armstrong are the favorites of the day. Bahktin’s concept of the novel as having no canon was awesome. I like that. I like that it can stand on it’s own, and I believe that it does as well. I also agree with his term of heteroglossia. Armstrong is girl power all the way, and the arguements that Kellie and Meagan presented in their presentation seem to fit perfectly into parts of what I want to get at in my final paper. Jameson, as Brandon stressed, sounded like his view point was just a little to narrow to be useful, and although Hutcheon’s ideas were cool, I think I’d have to do a little more reading of her myself to find out if I could apply her theory to my potenial thesis on the novel. All in all, I have to admit that this was a worthwhile experience (not that I ever doubted it would be!) and I think I gleaned some powerful new insights on the theory of the novel. Great job everyone!
Oh, Literary Theory-why are you such a necessary evil?
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Tabitha I really enjoyed your presentation on Lukac very well done! I think that he is incredibly difficult to understand and give you girls a great deal of credit! Kuddos on your ideas and presentation! I also agree about Armstrong I think that she is a very strong woman with very strong morals!
Yes good job on Lucaks because even though you didn’t understand his theory at first, that on the presention of his theory that you seemed very knowledgeable. Hutcheon is a little intense and I knew about metafiction and postmodernism by taking a class before english seminar. And I do like Armstrong’s ideas on women and their status according to society because I am also leaning toward that for my final paper.