Literary Theory

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This class will introduce students to theories that enhance our understanding of literature as well as theories that arise out of literary criticism that help us understand the world in ways that nothing else can. That is: theory for literature and literature interpretation as theory. We will begin by asking what "theory" is, and the value of abstract thought in general. Then we will survey literary theory from Aristotle to the present day, including both liberal and conservative schools of thought. Students can expect to have a good introduction to theories of form, mimesis, and mediation, bodies of work that emerged from both Kantian and Hegelian philosophy including cultural studies and the Frankfurt school, as well as new criticism, performance/gender theory, literary sociology, ecocriticism, and world/transnational approaches to literary history. Readings will be a mix of selected excerpts and primary texts. Coursework will involve three short essays and one long essay in which students either apply several theories to a piece of literary or discuss several theories in relation to one another.