Introduction to Literary Theory

Purpose of Course

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This course will introduce you to the field of literary theory, a central component of
contemporary studies in English and world literature. As you progress through this
course, you will gain knowledge of the various premises and methods available to
you as a critical reader of literature. You will identify and engage with key questions
that have animated and continue to animate theoretical discussions among
literary scholars and critics, including issues pertaining to ideology, cultural value,
the patriarchal and colonial biases of Western culture and literature, and more. The
structure of this course is historically based, arranged as a genealogy of theoretical
paradigms, beginning in the early 20th century when literary theory first
developed as a formal discipline and following the evolution of literary theory into
the present day. From text-centric Russian formalism to contemporary
gynocriticism and trauma theory, you will explore the basic principles and
preeminent texts that have defined many of the major critical debates surrounding
literature over the past hundred years.

Course Information

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Welcome to ENGL301: Introduction to Literary Theory. General information on

this course and its requirements can be found below.

Course Designer: James R. Fleming

Primary Resources: This course uses a range of different free, online
resource materials, with primary use of the following materials:

Yale Universitys Open Yale Courses: Introduction to Theory of

Literature: Dr. Paul H. Frys Lecture Series
The University of Tennessees Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy: Dr. Vince Brewtons Literary Theory
Stanford Universitys Center for the Study of Language and
Information: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Saylor Foundations An Introduction to Literary
Theory Coursepack
Athenaeum Library of Philosophy

Requirements for Completion: In order to complete this course, you

will need to work through each unit and all of its assigned materials.
You also will need to complete the courses Final Exam.
Note that you only will receive an official grade on your Final Exam.
However, in order to adequately prepare for this exam, you will need to
review all the materials assigned in each unit. In addition, responding
to the questions presented in the Q&As that follow many of the
assignments in this course - as well as thoroughly reviewing Saylors
coursepack and glossary of terms for this subject - also will help you
prepare for the Final Exam.
In order to pass this course, you will need to earn a 70% or higher on
the Final Exam. Your score on the exam will be tabulated as soon as you
complete it. If you do not pass the exam, you may take it again.
Time Commitment: This course should take you a total of 119.5 hours
to complete. Each unit includes time advisories that list the amount of
time you are expected to spend on each subunit and assignment. These
time advisories should help you plan your time accordingly. It may be
useful to take a look at these time advisories and to determine how
much time you have over the next few weeks to complete each unit,
and then to set goals for yourself. For example, Unit 1 should take you
approximately 5.5 hours to complete. Perhaps you can sit down with
your calendar and decide to complete Subunit 1.1 (a total of 4.5 hours)
on Monday and Tuesday nights; Subunit 1.2 (a total of 1 hour) on
Wednesday night; etc.
Tips/Suggestions: It is recommended that you take thorough notes as
you work through each assignment in this course. These notes will
serve as a useful review tool as you study for the Final Exam. In
addition, the Q&As that follow many of the assignments in this course
will help you to solidify many important concepts. In addition, the
coursepack and glossary of terms included in this course will serve as
indispensable resources for understanding many of the various
theoretical terms and concepts presented in this course.

Learning Outcomes

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Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

define both literary theory and literary criticism, and explain the
emergence of these two fields as a discipline of study;
identify and discuss classical Greek explanations of the purpose
of literature;
explain and account for the rise of literary theory in the
th
20 century, and describe the place of theory in contemporary English
and cultural studies;
provide a brief overview of the major tenets, practitioners, and
ideas stemming from the following critical and theoretical movements
and/or schools: Russian formalism, New
Criticism, structuralism,poststructuralism, semiotics, deconstruction, psych
oanalysis,feminism, gender theory, Marxism, readerresponse paradigms, New Historicism, postcolonialism, ethnic
studies, ecocriticism, chaos theory, andtrauma theory;
identify and discuss some of the viewpoints opposed to the
practice of literary criticism;
discuss contemporary cultural forces influencing some of the
newly emerging trends in literary theory, such as ecocriticism, trauma
theory, and chaos theory; and
identify, discuss, and define some of the key theories of major
literary and cultural critics and theorists, such as (in alphabetical order)
Theodor W. Adorno, Aristotle, J.L. Austin, Mikhail Bakhtin, Roland
Barthes, Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Butler, Hlne Cixous, Jacques
Derrida, Terry Eagleton, T.S. Eliot, Stanely Fish, Michel Foucault,
Sigmund Freud, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Stephen Greenblatt, Edmund
Husserl, Wolfgang Iser, Fredric Jameson, Carl Jung, Julia Kristeva,
Jacques Lacan, Karl Marx, Plato, Ferdinand de Saussure, Eve Kosofsky
Sedgwick, and Victor Shklovsky.

Course Requirements SHOW

Preliminary Information

Download Coursepack:
Reading: The Saylor Foudation's "An Introduction to
Literary Theory"