Assignment: Applying Theory
Comparative Literature
Paper 2
Write a 5- to 6-page paper (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point font) that critically applies ONE theoretical article to a comparative analysis of TWO literary texts.
Theoretical Articles
You may:
- Continue to work with the theoretical essay you used in Paper 1. If you do so, you’ll need to (1) significantly condense your summary and (2) gear it toward the literary texts you are using and your comparative focus; or
- Pick a new essay from the three pdf files posted on LATTE; or
- Find something not among those listed in LATTE. I have put two anthologies of theoretical essays on reserve at the library. Please don't check both out at once so everyone will have the best shot at looking at them:
- "The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends." Ed. by David H. Richter. PN81 .C844 1989
- "Literary Theory: An Anthology." Second Edition. Ed. by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan 2004. PN45 .L512 2004
- Additional considerations: Choose an essay that genuinely interests you and will illuminate the literary texts and comparative focus you choose.
Literary Texts
You may:
- Choose one or both from the course readings; or
- Choose one or both from elsewhere. If you do this, please attach copies of your texts to you paper when you submit it.
- Additional considerations: Shorter works, such as poems or short stories (rather than, say, novels), will be easier to manage for this assignment. If you are interested in writing about something longer, find a particular passage or two to focus on that will suffice to make your points, and which is short enough to copy and attach to your submission.
Comparative Argument
- Something should be constant: a theme, a genre, a motif, a symbol, etc.
- Think about what differs across texts and why.
- Do not feel like you have to get too fancy in your comparative strategy. Soundness, clarity and illumination of the primary texts are more important than theoretical sophistication. Let the literary texts drive (and justify) your argument rather than using the texts to prove a theoretical point. Literary theory and literary analysis are thinking about literature. If they don't speak to the literary texts, they are not doing their job.
- Recognize the limitations on comparative arguments in the context of this assignment. You won't, for example, be able to go very far in tracing the cultural or literary history in which a given text is located, so don't try to make a claim that depends on such knowledge.
David Powelstock and Ryan Wepler
Developed at Brandeis University through a grant from the Davis Educational Foundation