Introduction to Literary Theory

(4 Credits)

This course introduces graduate students to literary theory. It offers a chronological outline of the major intellectual developments in the broader field since the end of the nineteenth century. Meetings combine faculty and guest mini-lectures, student presentations, and discussion. Analysis and discussion of the weekly reading assignments is the seminar's centerpiece. Participants are encouraged to regard theory and criticism as praxis, that is, as something you do—rather than as an abstract, fixed object of study.