ENG 3014 Spring 2019 Faulk

This course serves as an introduction to modern literary/cultural criticism. We will discuss some of the key questions that animate discussion among literary scholars today, including the meaning of culture, the status of art, the nature of power, the act of interpretation, and the patriarchal and colonial foundations of Western culture. We will spend most of our time carefully reading and assessing the arguments in the essays that we read. We will also consider the changing nature of literary theory and how it has evolved within various historical, social, and institutional contexts.

Most of our reading will come from The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (3rd edition, 2018; ed. Vincent B. Leitch et. al.), but we will test our critical reading skills on a variety of short texts throughout the semester. The course requirements include a mid-term exam consisting of short answer questions, a final (though not cumulative) exam in the same format, and active participation in class discussion.