Department of English

This course will introduce graduate students to the professional study of literature.  We will consider the ways in which debates in literary and cultural studies have shaped interpretive practices of through what has come to be known as “theory.” Studying key terms and concepts from a range of methodologies including Post/structuralism, Marxism, Psychoanalysis, New Historicism, Feminism, Queer Theory, Critical Race Theory, Postcolonial Studies, Environmental Studies, New Materialisms, and Digital Humanities, we will discuss early, foundational work from these fields as well as recent and emergent methodological, theoretical, and institutional debates. Throughout the semester, we will consider the implications of the changing state of the discipline for graduate students as they form their own critical investments and intellectual projects.