Introduction to Literary Theory

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Subject:

Humanities

Institution Name:

The Saylor Foundation

Collection:

Saylor Foundation

Grade Level:

Post-secondary

Abstract:

This course will introduce you to the field of literary theory by identifying and engaging with the key problems and questions that animate theoretical discussion among literary scholars and critics, including issues pertaining to ideology, cultural value, the patriarchal and colonial bases of Western culture, and more. The student will be acquainted with the basic principles and preeminent texts that have defined many of the major critical debates of the 20th and 21st centuries. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to define both literary criticism and literary theory, and explain the emergence of literature as a discipline of study; identify and discuss classical Greek explanations of the purpose of literature; explain and account for the rise of critical theory in the 20th century, and describe the place of theory in contemporary English and cultural studies; provide a brief overview of the major tenets, practitioners, and ideas of the following critical and theoretical movements and/or schools: Russian Formalism, structuralism, post-structuralism, semiotics, Deconstruction, psychoanalysis, feminism, gender theory, Marxism, Reader-Response paradigms, New Historicism, Post-Colonialism, Ethnic and Cultural Studies, Eco-criticism and Eco-theory and trauma theory; identify and discuss some of the viewpoints opposed to the practice of criticism and literary theory; identify and discuss some of the newly emerging trends in literary theory, such as eco-criticism, trauma theory, chaos theory, game theory, and trans-identity criticism; identify, discuss, and define some of the key literary theories of such major literary and cultural critics and theorists as Plato, Aristotle, Karl Marx, Michele Foucault, Judith Butler, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan, T.S. Eliot, Henry Louis Gates, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Eve Sedgwick, and Frederic Jameson. (English Literature 301)

Languages:

English

Material Type:

Assessments, Audio Lectures, Full Course, Lecture Notes, Readings, Syllabi, Video Lectures

Media Format:

Audio, Graphics/Photos, Text/HTML, Downloadable docs, Video

Conditions of Use:

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0
You are welcome to share, remix, and adapt this course under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License; however, many linked materials within this course are copyright of their respective authors/owners and may not be openly-licensed. Please respect the copyright and terms of use associated with each resource.

Copyright Holder:

The Saylor Foundation