Seminar for English Honours
Term 1
M, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.; W, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
This course introduces students entering the English Honours Program to the major currents of literary theory commonly used in English studies today. We will review the schools and movements that have had the strongest influence on literary criticism in the twentieth century (and beyond) including new criticism, structuralism, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, feminism, queer theory, new historicism, post-colonialism, and eco-criticism. We will also experiment with the way these theories are applied to formal, political, and historico-material methods of literary analysis. These experiments will in turn raise broader questions about how theoretical approaches affect and change critical practice. Texts will include a selection of primary theoretical materials, some secondary criticism, and poetry and short prose. Evaluation will be based on student contributions to ongoing discussions and group work in a variety of media, a series of short reflective papers, and a final exam.
