Download Totality - Art of Reading - Exam and more Exams Art in PDF only on Docsity!
National University of Ireland, Galway
Semester I Examinations, 2011/
Exam Code(s) Master of Arts (International Contemporary Literatures and Media)
Exam(s)
Module Code(s) MIC 504
Module(s) German Cultural Studies 1
Paper No. Repeat Paper Special Paper
External Examiner(s) Professor I. Wallace Internal Examiner(s) Professor H.-W. Schmidt-Hannisa T. Pusse Dr.
Instructions : (^) Answer three questions.
Duration 2 hrs No. of Answer books Department(s) German.
Answer Three of the following six questions:
(1) Do you agree with Shane Phelan’s assertion that feminism must see Foucault “as an ally because he ultimately provides the seeds of a democratic theory and a re-conception of the values of freedom and individuality that have such a fundamental role in feminist theory and activity’? Please use specific examples in your answer.
(2) How have the feminist re-thinkings of Foucault studied on this effected the way in which you have read and interpreted, or indeed re-read or ire-interpreted literary texts on this course? Please refer to specific texts in your answer.
(3) Totality or singularity? When interpreting texts, many critics are interested in establishing a coherent unity of meaning, others are more interested in the awareness for "sign events". Which of these positions do you see as more adequate in relation to literature? Please explain your position.
(4) Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin both discuss a shift in the relation between reader / spectator and a piece of art through mass media. Please discuss the difference in their diagnosis, and explore one of these two ideas further.
(5) How is literary discourse different from non-literary discourse? Discuss, referring primarily to texts included in the Art of Reading anthology.
(6) How useful is the adaptation of Clifford Geertz’ ethnographic concept of "thick descriptions" to literary texts - and outline the problems that arise from it?
