Stanley Fish and Wolfgang Iser

Semesteroppgave i ENG4369 – Reception Studies, høst 2012. En pdf av oppgaveteksten finnes her.

I have chosen to compare and contrast two theorists from our syllabus, Stanley Fish and Wolfgang Iser. Albeit both propagandists of the so-called reader response theory of literary criticism, they differ on some central tenets in their respective theoretical approaches: The importance of the primary text, the importance of the author, the extent of the work done by the reader, the importance of the relative situatedness of the reader, and the stability of texts across readers and readings.

I will outline their main contributions to the field of literary criticism, with a focus on their importance for our specific field of enquiry, reception studies; point out where their approaches conflict; and try to tentatively offer my own criticism of their stances. Where I deem their approaches inadequate, I will supplement them with other theorists. My main thesis statement for this essay is thus: In what ways do the works of Stanley Fish and Wolfgang Iser inform the study of reception?

The Interaction between Science and Religion in American History

Hjemmeeksamen i NORAM4584 – Religion in American History, høst 2012. En pdf av oppgaveteksten finnes her. 

Throughout American history, the relationship between science and religion has been an uneasy one. Either has had to adjust to the other, having to redefine, reconsider or reconstruct itself as the other gained prominence. Sometimes there have been efforts to integrate and create synergies, at other times we have witnessed retractions and redefinitions in the face of the other. From the early paradigm-changing scientific breakthroughs in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries – among those most prominently the work of renowned English physicist Isaac Newton – and the Enlightenment period with its focus on rational thought and empirical proofs, both challenging the position of the Church, through to the present-day debate between creationists and evolutionists creating headaches for school boards throughout the United States, the tension between scientific and religious approaches to individual morality, communal organizations, the larger American polity and society, and the origin and make-up of creation itself has defined many of the most important existential debates in American history.

“Big Blonde” as a Feminist Critique of American Society of the 1920s

Semesteroppgave ENG4435 – The Lost Generation and the 1920s, vår 2012.   

Dorothy Parker’s short story “Big Blonde,” first published in 1929 and an O. Henry Prizewinner for best American short story of that year (Kinney 137), is a mercilessly damning portrait of the role of women in contemporary American society, with specific focus on urban middle class – or, perhaps more specifically, the “roaring” part of it – gender roles and gender dynamics. In this essay I will present some salient themes of Parker’s story, and try to identify her position on these themes. I will focus my interpretation on how women are portrayed and on the interaction between women and men, and use that analysis as a point of departure for a discussion of how “Big Blonde” can be analyzed as a feminist critique of contemporary American society in the twenties.

Hazel Morse is the story’s focalizing protagonist. The development of her character, and the interplay between her gradually deteriorating self and the series of men she surrounds herself with and depends upon, becomes the main vehicle by which Parker’s commentary on society is both presented and represented. Hazel, and the series of states she is in, is the object of a continual mirroring in her own immediate context: The series of men, the neighbor Mrs. Martin, the newspaper clippings, the series of encounters with horses, and so on, all become reflections of the development of her character. Thus, the following interpretation of “Big Blonde” will center on this focal character.

The Function of History in "The Reluctant Fundamentalist"

Hjemmeeksamen i ENG4373 – Multicultural American Literature, vår 2012. En pdf av oppgaveteksten finnes her.

I have chosen essay option 1, and will discuss the function of history in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (the abbreviation TRF will be used to refer to the novel throughout the essay).

The novel is written in a first-person narrative, the narration as such related by the main focalizing character, Changez, who is recounting his experiences as a young student and professional in America to an American visitor at a restaurant in Lahore, Pakistan. The novel thus alternates between two quite distinctly different settings, the story-telling spell at the restaurant, functioning as a frame-story; and the story that is being told, i.e. the gradual unraveling of Changez’ encounters with American culture and society. By the end of the final chapter, the two narrative strands meet.

Sexual Traumas and Identity Formation in "Passing" and "Kindred"

Obligatorisk kvalifiseringsoppgave i ENG4373 – Multicultural American Literature, vår 2012. 

Both in Nella Larsen’s Passing and Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred – albeit in very different ways – an historical, asymmetrical cross-racial sexual union is an indispensable basic factor for their respective narrative developments: In Passing, a core theme, the possibility of being able to “pass” from being considered black to being considered white, hinges on a sufficient dilution of visible outward signs of blackness; in Kindred, the inception of the hereditary line of the main protagonist depends on a sexual relation between a white slave owner and a black slave – a relation she is transported through time to make sure comes about, whereby to save herself.

Circulation of Social Energy – How Texts Come Alive

Hjemmeeksamen i ENG4310 – Literary Theory in English, vår 2012. En pdf av oppgaveteksten finnes her.

1. Introduction

This essay will be a discussion on some basic assumptions of the critical tradition of new historicism. In line with new historicism’s “determination to do so much justice to the example itself,”[1] I will base it on a close reading of Stephen Greenblatt’s 1998 essay “The circulation of social energy,” and discuss how new historicism appears specifically within and throughout that text.

 

Following the assignment text, I will try to separate out, and focus my discussion around, three basic assumptions of new historicism: First, that there is no single totalizing or autonomous originator, neither of a text, nor of a consistent, corporate social ideology; second, that, through a process of dynamic exchange, a text emerges out of, and bases its existence on an interplay with, a distinct culture; and third, that a successful text through this process can be empowered with a kind of social energy that makes it speak to us across centuries. Finally, I will remark briefly on the relevance of Greenblatt’s theoretical stance for other eras and genres.