Content (Syllabus outline)

This course deals with the conceptions of literature in discourse theories, in which the role of literature in speech act theories from John L. Austin via Jacques Derrida to Judith Butler is at the forefront. It outlines the process leading from Austin’s constitutive exclusion of aesthetic statements from the multitude of speech acts to Judith Butler’s substantiation of speech acts based precisely on aesthetic statements. Literature thus proves to be a discourse that is painfully banished by Austin’s nomothetic, critical science of the performative on the one hand and that is just as painfully glorified by the idiographic and topic expert knowledge of Judith Butler on the other. This literature-committed continental reception of Austin’s analytical philosophy serves as the basis for presenting modern literary-studies treatments of literature as a discourse.

Readings

• Austin, John L. Kako napravimo kaj z besedami. Prevod Bogdan Lešnik. Ljubljana: ŠKUC in ZIFF, 1990.
• Butler, Judith. O lingvistični ranljivosti. Prevod Peter Klepec. Problemi9–10 (2011): 5–53.
• Cavell, Stanley. Kaj je Derrida hotel od Austina? Prevod Jernej Habjan. Problemi5–6 (2011): 137–159.
• Derrida, Jacques. Signatura dogodek kontekst. Prevod Simona Perpar in Uroš Grilc. Aleš Pogačnik, ur.: Sodobna literarna teorija. Ljubljana: Krtina, 1995. 119–141.
• Gorman, David. The Use and Abuse of Speech-Act Theory in Criticism. Poetics Today1 (1999): 93–119.
• Habjan, Jernej. Ordinary Literature Philosophy. London: Bloomsbury, 2020.
• Habjan, Jernej. Literatura med dekonstrukcijo in teorijo. Ljubljana: Založba /*cf., 2014.
• Juvan, Marko. Literarna veda v rekonstrukciji. Ljubljana: LUD Literatura, 2006. [29–54.]
• Koron, Alenka. Teorija/teorije diskurza in literarna veda (1. del). Primerjalna književnost 2 (2004): 97–117.
• Miller, J. Hillis. Performativity as Performance / Performativity as Speech Act. South Atlantic Quarterly2 (2007): 219–235.
• Močnik, Rastko. Didaktičen načrt. Prevod Janko Zlodre. Problemi–Razprave 24.4–5 (1986): 72–83.

Objectives and competences

Students are acquainted with the general features of discourse theory and, within this framework, primarily with speech act theory and its reception in modern continental philosophy and literary theory. Based on this, they develop skills in discourse analysis, literary interpretation, and critical reflection on performative practices.

Intended learning outcomes

Students use the knowledge acquired in the course to write a piece of academic writing that can serve as a draft of a dissertation chapter or a research article.

Learning and teaching methods:

Types of learning/teaching:

• Work in smaller groups or pair work
• Independent students work
• e-learning

Teaching methods:

• Explanation
• Conversation/discussion/debate
• Work with texts
• Case studies

Assessment

• Long written assignment (70 %),
• presentation (20 %),
• Active participation in lectures and seminars (10 %).