School of Letters Department of Humanities Literature Course English Linguistics & Literature Major Major (Credit 2) Intended Year: Intended School:

American Literature (Lecture V) American Literature (Lecture V) Sub Title　 Associate Professor, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University MORI Shinichiro

Numbering Code: LET-HUM4581J Course Code: 2017 SpringTerm intensive Hakozaki Classroom J科目 (日本語, 日本語)

Course Overview

The purpose of this class is to read and discuss Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire (1962), one of the oddest novels in literary history. A fictional "jack-in-the-box" as Mary McCarthy called it, the novel consists of a renowned poet's 999-line poem, briefly introduced and lengthily commented by his neighbor and critic (and what not). Bristling with textual conundrums and intertextual ramifications, it offers in its formal complexity such issues as narrative reliability, textual authority and the ethics of reading, through the consideration of which students will be able to enrich their view of fictional art and refine their sensibility toward literary texts.

Last updated

: 2017/2/28 (22:16)