Contemporary Literary Theory

Catalog description

This class focuses on current methodologies of interpretation—theories of reading, language, literature, and analysis—in the discipline of English. It explores a variety of answers to the questions of how, why, and what we read. A brief history of criticism since Plato will ground the work of the course: understanding and applying contemporary literary and cultural theories, including formalism, reader response, structuralism, post-structuralism, feminist analysis, psychoanalytic approaches, new historicism, postcolonialism, queer theory, critical race studies, cultural studies, eco-critical approaches, new materialism, affect theory, and thing theory approaches. This class is necessary for any graduate work in literature and writing. Does not satisfy English literature requirement in Business, Education, and Engineering.