Introduction to Critical Theory
This problem- and play-based approach to general literary and critical theory studies what counts as knowledge, how we find meaning and where, how humans adapt, respond, and resist in the face of changing conditions in the world, the status of art as expression, and how we determine communication and interpretation. You might think of critical theory as consisting in the arguments which justify the work of the arts and humanities and expose the measure of their worth. It asks what functions critics and creatively-thinking theorists play in the processes by which societies and cultures reproduce themselves, and it thinks about how to advocate most effectively for those in the world who face social, economic, environmental, and political barriers to thriving and flourishing. We will read and discuss a rich selection of short fiction and poems in juxtaposition with narrative theory, ecocriticism, theories in media and communication, critical race theory, feminist theory and literary criticism, gender studies, queer theory, old and new materialisms, studies in the workings of the mind and psychoanalysis, decoloniality, post/structuralism, and cultural theory.