Corequisite- C502
2:30-3:45    MW     BH 221
				
The course presents a survey of prominent theoretical paradigms
operative in contemporary literature studies today. It introduces
graduate students to the methodological debates on the nature of
literary discourse in the 20th century with emphasis on the practice
of comparative literature today. It is important to first visit the
tradition of form-oriented and structuralist criticism since it is
before this backdrop that the subsequent paradigms, their reception,
and their intriguing interaction have to be positioned. At the
beginning of the 21st century neo-Marxian ideological critique,
Foucauldian discourse analysis, deconstruction, and culture studies
show more affinity than at the time of their respective inception; the
confluence of Freudian and Lacanian approaches serves feminist and
gender studies that are also informed by the above directions.
We will discuss "theory" in conjunction with examples of its critical
application to literary texts as well as to literary and cultural
terms; we conclude by collaboratively establishing a glossary of those
terms and concepts derived from the various paradigms that now form an
integral part of a general critical vocabulary.
Required are:  One 10-p. paper that applies one or more approaches to
a literary text chosen by the student;
A final (take-home) examination that consists of essay questions
relating to the "glossary" mentioned above.

Required texts:
Hawthorn, Jeremy.  A Glossary of Literary Theory (4th  ed.)
A custom-made reader, available at Collegiate Copies in August.

C501 is required for Comparative Literature M.A. and Ph.D. majors