ENG 5079 Summer 2023 Della Gatta

Why theory? What are the frameworks that have shaped the interpretation of literature and how have they developed and shifted over time? Through what lenses and ideologies do we define terms such as author, text, narrative? What does it mean to be “critical?” This course will provide a historical introduction to various schools of thought from literary studies, cultural studies, and philosophy, as well as their intersections. In addition, we will distinguish between research methods and theoretical methodologies for analyzing a text. Finally, we will address the field of cultural studies that encompasses issues of identity (race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ableism, neurodiversity, etc.), political economy, and performance and new media. Students will learn about the primary tenets of major schools of theory as a foundation for their study of literature.

The class will address the major schools of literary theory through works by Mikhail Bakhtin, Jorge Luis Borges, Julia Kristeva, Michel Foucault, and Stephen Greenblatt. Likewise, the course will engage with a sampling of the branches of cultural studies, with possible selections from Gloria Anzaldúa, Judith Butler, The Combahee River Collective, Stuart Hall, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Laura Mulvey, Edward Said, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Raymond Williams, Sylvia Wynter, and others.

N.B.: at least for now, enrollment is limited to newly enrolled MA/MFA students from the 2023 cohort.