Penn Arts & Sciences Logo
 

Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory

ENGL 094.401
instructor(s):

This course provides an exposure to the main discourses of Theory understood as literary and cultural theory. We will start with earlier formulations of the problem of interpretation with Plato and Aristotle, then move on to modern and contemporary approaches. We will survey the main concepts of Formalism, Structuralism, Post-structuralism, Psychoanalysis, Marxism, Feminism and Deconstruction. Finally we will discuss Post-colonial studies, Cultural Studies and Queer Theory. We will use the second edition of the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (2010) and the Bloomsbury Anthology of Aesthetics (2012).
 

fulfills requirements
Sector 1: Theory and Poetics of the Standard Major
Sector 6: 20th Century Literature of the Standard Major