Literary Theory
- Locate two examples of literary theory that are relevant to your reading. You may choose from examples we
have already considered in the class, sources from the list below, or—if you are feeling especially plucky—
ones that you locate on your own. Use the Pennsylvania State University’s library search page (Links to an
external site.) and/or Google Scholar (Links to an external site.) to locate sources (many texts that are not
freely available through Google Scholar may be accessed directly through your Penn State library account).
Remember, although literary theory often mentions specific texts, its focus in on interpreting (fantasy) literature
as a whole. We will deal with literary criticism (expert readings of your specific text) in the next research
assignment.
Do not simply choose the first two sources you find; if a source does not appear relevant/helpful to you, find
one that is.
The following sources and brief descriptions are sorted by the kinds of questions they address. Some are
standalone articles and others are books with relevant chapter(s), but all are available electronically (free
online or through the Penn State library system). Note: If you are using one of the sources below, make sure
you have located the original source, and not a derivative work (such as a book review or critique).
terary Borrowing… and stealing: Plagiarism, sources, influences, and intertexts” discusses
the complex relationship between authors and their sources, which is relevant to several of the novels and
especially Vellum.
Jukka Tyrkkö’s “‘Kaleidoscope’ Narratives and the Act of Reading” answers questions about how we read texts
that are organized/presented like House of Leaves and Vellum.
Greer Watson’s “Assumptions of Reality: Low Fantasy, Magical Realism, and the Fantastic” discusses the
distinction between “fantasy” and “reality” that is relevant to several of the novels, but especially The Ghost
Bride and The Shadow of the Wind.
Lisa Yaszek’s “Afrofuturism, science fiction, and the history of the future” discusses the history and formulation
of literature like Binti.
Questions about what fantasy is and how to understand it
Brian Attebery’s Stories about Stories: Fantasy and the Remaking of Myth examines how a primarily oral genre
(myth) is reinvented in written fantasy.
Mark A Fabrizi’s Fantasy Literature is a comprehensive examination of the genre in terms of its critical
approach.
Patti J. Kurtz’s “Understanding and Appreciating Fantasy Literature” introduces the fantasy genre and
overviews how it can be studied.
Questions about what fantasy says and means
Daniel Baker’s “Why We Need Dragons: The Progressive Potential of Fantasy” examines the relationship
between fantasy and the real world.
J. D. Bellin’s Framing Monsters: Fantasy Film and Social Alienation details what (film) monsters say about
society.
Rosemary Jackson’s Fantasy: the Literature of Subversion argues that fantasy can be understood in terms of a
subversive force in its social and political context.
Questions about how fantasy narratives work and how they are written
Brian McHale’s Postmodernist Fiction seeks to understand how diverse works (like metafiction and speculative
fiction) can be understood in terms of postmodernism.
Farah Mendlesohn’s “Toward a Taxonomy of Fantasy” discusses a system of classification based on how the
fantastic is presented within the narrative.
A. Zgorzelski’s “On Differentiating Fantastic Fiction: Some Supragenological Distinctions in Literature”
discusses the “assumptions” different styles of writing make about their readers.
- Construct a bibliographic reference for each source in MLA style (Links to an external site.). You may use a
citation tool to construct your citation, but often the references these generate require some amount of
“cleaning up.” The rules for generating a bibliographic reference are as follows:
The overall order and punctuation for a reference is: Author(s). Source. Container, Contributors, Version,
Sequence, Publisher, Date, Location.
If one or more of these elements is missing, simply leave it blank.
The Author is listed Last Name, First Name (and middle name or initial, if provided). If more than one author is
provided, list the other names ordinarily. If a work is translated or edited, also list those names here, followed
by a comma and the role.
The Source is the title of your source. If it is a journal article, chapter, or otherwise part of a larger whole, it is
placed in quotation marks (see Container, below). If it is a book or complete work itself, it is italicized.
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If your Source is a complete volume or book, ignore Container. Otherwise, italicize the name of the book,
journal, or title of the larger whole.
In the case of a work where others contributed (like a Director to a movie), include that information in the
Contributor, comma, and the role they played.
If a Container has an issue, volume, episode or similar numerical indicator, include it in Sequence.
The Publisher and the Date are specified as appropriate.
Under Location, enter the page numbers or other indicators for a physical source; enter a URL or DOI for an
online item. - Closely read each source. Note the arguments the author makes, the methods employed, and the examples
cited. Extract quotes (and locations) that are relevant to your own study (but remember to quote direct phrasing
and include the location, for future citations!). Do not be afraid to look up unfamiliar terms or examples, or to
read more than once to ensure comprehension. When you have finished, construct a brief paragraph that
describes the author’s argument. Do not describe what the article is “about,” but rather what the author’s
central thesis is, the supporting evidence, and the conclusions drawn.
Sample Solution
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