COD 2023 - D812

Webinar - Reading Classics: Who Prefers not to? A Critical Approach to Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener”

Literature lovers interested in discussing this piece of prose from a critical perspective in the context of the 170th anniversary of its publication; Language and Literature teachers interested in literary analysis and its impact on teaching literature, in general, and in "Bartleby, the Scrivener. A Story of Wall Street", in particular

1 sessions, start: 23-Feb

Course detail

Year: 2023
Level: Distance
Language: English
Status: Ended
Lugar: Distance
Facilitator/s: Cecilia Lasa MA
Print course
ESSARP Schools
Free of charge
Exams Schools
ARS 4500.00
Non affiliate
ARS 4500.00

Sessions


Sessions Dates Start Finish
1 23 February 2023 05:30 pm 07:00 pm

Facilitator/s

Cecilia Lasa

Cecilia Lasa is a Teacher of English (IESLV “Juan R. Fernández”) and a Teacher of Literature (Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, UBA). She holds a Master's Degree in Literatures in Foreign Languages and in Comparative Literatures (UBA) and a Higher Diploma in Research in Humanities (UBA). She has done a Specialisation in Reading, Writing and Education (FLACSO) and in Writing and Literature (Ministerio de Educación). She has worked as a teacher of Literature and of academic reading and writing in Teacher Training Colleges in Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires and in Universidad Nacional de Avellaneda. She is currently working as a teacher and researcher in English Literature and American Literature (FFyL, UBA) and conducting her Ph. D research at Instituto de Filología “Amado Alonso” (UBA-CONICET). She is the author of Academic Writing and has edited and co-authored Literatura y formación docente. Proyectos de lectura y de escritura.
Literature lovers interested in discussing this piece of prose from a critical perspective in the context of the 170th anniversary of its publication; Language and Literature teachers interested in literary analysis and its impact on teaching literature, in general, and in "Bartleby, the Scrivener. A Story of Wall Street", in particular
- To describe the social, economic and political concerns of mid-19th-century USA.
- To characterise the setting in the text in the light of contextual aspects.
- To identify the main features of the narrator that turn him into an unreliable one.
- To analyse the literary construction of the characters in the short story, especially Bartleby.
- To discuss the tragedy of Wall Street.
- Contextual aspects: society, politics and economy in the mid-19th-century USA.
- The importance of the setting as foreshadowing the final tragedy.
- The unreliable narrator and its specificities in Melville's short story.
- The construction of a network of characters under the power of the narrator. The role of Bartleby.
- The tragic dimension of the short story in the light of the particular context of production.
1) Recovery of attendees' previous knowledge about the text and its author
2) Discussion of the problems related to the context of production
3) Introduction to Herman Melville’s fictional world and the importance of this short story
4) Exploration of specific features of the short story –narrator, characters, setting, conflict, etc.
5) Guided group analysis of the short story.

This webinar is part of the series "Rereading Classics", which tackles prose, drama and poetry. Although each webinar is independent from the others, each of them deals with genre-specific aspects of analysis.
The other two webinars are:
- Where is Desire? Approaching Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire from a Contemporary Perspective
- Who is Afraid of Sylvia Plath? A Look at the Construction of the Woman Writer in her Poetry
Source texts

Melville, H. (2009). “Bartlby, the Scrivener. A Story of Wall Street”. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Critical and theoretical material

Gunn, G. (ed.) (2005). A Historical Guide to Herman Melville. Oxford: Osford University Press.
Hayes, K. (2007). The Cambridge Introduction to Herman Melville. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kelly, W. (2006). A Companion to Herman Melville. Malden, Oxford, Victoria: Blackwell Publishing.

Cambridge’s Bibliography about Literature in English

Cambridge International Examinations (2018). Learner Guide IGCSE®Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Russell, C (2018). Cambridge IGCSE® and O Level Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Whitthome, E (2018). AS & A Level Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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