Instructor: Huh
TR 12:30 1:50 PM
While we often discuss literature in terms of appreciation (e.g. “I hate that book!” or “That’s my favorite novel!”), the analysis of literature is actually a careful methodological enterprise rooted in what we call “critical theory.” This is a course in the lively history and practice of literary and cultural theory, the interdisciplinary texts and methods that shape the ways we study literature. Along the way, you will learn about the major “schools” of and “approaches” to literary analysis, developing a working understanding of a diverse array of “lenses” through which to explore texts. Theories of literature are by nature limited; they bring certain aspects of a text into focus by, necessarily, obscuring others which is why we’re reading a broad range of approaches: Psychoanalysis, Queer Theory and Feminism, Marxism, Postcolonial Theory, and Ecocriticism, just to name a few. By working through these different “lenses,” we will see how texts can look radically different depending on the kinds of questions we ask. Building on that knowledge, we’ll learn how to ask methodical, critical questions, how to analyze literature through these different perspectives, and how to develop strong, evidence-based arguments about the texts we read. We will use theory to work through sets of epistemological challenges together—working through questions, concepts, and problems with real, material purchase.