Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Synopsis Francis Ponge (1899-1989) is considered to be one of the greatest practitioners of the prose poem in the twentieth century. His writing practice is, however, on the edge of literary convention, assuming the contradiction which can still be read in the concept of prose poetry. This subject aims to consider the development of Ponge's writing practice, his own theorisation of it and the ways in which it has been and can be understood in the light of literary theory from phenomenology to post-structuralism. Its specific objectives include presentation of a range of Ponge's texts/metatexts across the totality of his production; an examination of critical approaches to his work which have been developed (from Sartre to Derrida); development of other applications of critical theory to the reading of Ponge (eg Althusser, Serres, Deleuze, Johnson).
Assessment (8 points) Seminar paper (1000 words): 10% + Minor essay (2000 words): 30% + Major essay (4000 words): 60%
Assessment (12 points) Two seminar papers (1000 words each): 20% + Minor essay (2000 words): 30% + Major essay (5000 words): 50%