ENGL 217 - Literary Theory and Interpretation

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

A study of various critical theories and practices ranging from antiquity to the present day.

Topic for 2018/19a: Knowledge, representation, and power. This course introduces literary criticism and theory through tracing several dominant strains of thought about Western representation from antiquity to the present day. We focus particularly on theories of truth and representation; of subjectivity; and of linguistic systems of signification and knowledge production. The last two sections of the course highlight the role of power. We investigate formalism, psychoanalytic criticism, Marxist criticism, feminist criticism, poststructuralist theory and postcolonial critique. Jean Kane

Two 75-minute periods.