HMS-230A Literary Criticism and Theory Survey

3 Credits

The status of literature - its meaning, structure, truth value, and social function - has proven, throughout history, to be surprisingly controversial, and has generated endless commentary. This class provides a survey of the field of literary criticism and theory from Antiquity to the present. Texts are drawn from a range of theoretical schools or movements, including formalism, structuralism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, feminism and gender studies, sexuality studies, deconstruction, and post-structuralism. While the course focuses on literary criticism, connections are also made to art criticism and intellectual history.