ENG3014 - Summer 2025 - Ward

This course will introduce you to various schools of theory that inform current literary and cultural studies, and enable you to use the work of theorists in your own readings of a wide range of cultural productions. Meeting these objectives involves the following:

• Building a critical/theoretical vocabulary;

• Attaining a basic understanding of and conversance with theoretical concepts contained in course readings;

• Demonstrating that understanding when reading, discussing, and writing about assigned texts.

In addition to using Robert Dale Parker’s How To Interpret Literature as an introductory primer for understanding critical theory, you will also read works by the theorists themselves to give you a sense of the richness and range of different theoretical schools. To facilitate the practical application of theoretical concepts, and to help organize and articulate your critical responses, we will engage in various exercises designed to hone your writing skills. Refining these skills—developing strong thesis statements, analyzing textual evidence, incorporating theoretical vocabulary—will benefit you not only in this class, but in other courses as well.

In other words, over the six-week semester, we will engage in praxis (the first vocabulary word for the course): “practice informed by theory and also … theory informed by practice” (Williams, Keywords, “Theory”).