History of Criticism and Theory

Catalog description

A survey of the history of literary criticism and theory. While comprehensive in scope, the course might focus on specific topics in the history of criticism, such as the dialectic between rhetoric and poetics, the rise of aesthetics, or the relation of art and culture to society. Figures studied will extend from early philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, through eighteenth-century thinkers such as Kant and Johnson, up to present theorists such as Derrida and Butler. Credit Hour s : 3