Course Catalogue

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This course covers aspects of the history of literary and critical theory from antiquity to the present, focusing mainly on trends and debates in twentieth and twenty-first century theory and covering topics such as ideas of authorship and literary value, formalism, poetics, structuralism and post-structuralism, psychoanalysis and the subject, ideology and discourse, gender, sexuality and performance, post-modernism, ecology, culture, race, nation, postcolonialism and post-humanism.

1 x 1hr lecture per week over ten weeks and 7 x 90 min seminars over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into English Literature, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

ENGLIT4011 Literary Theory

None

Encyclopaedia entry (1000 words): 30%

Essay (3000 words): 50%

Seminar presentation (7 minutes): 20%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to:

■ increase students' literary-theoretical knowledge and awareness of literary, critical and social theory; 

■ develop awareness of the history and context of modern literary theory and its philosophical-aesthetic origins;

■ facilitate understanding of aspects of the general context within which works of literary theory have been produced, popularised and expanded upon;

■ develop comprehension of key theoretical positions and arguments;

■ enable students to use this knowledge to construct and develop individually selected areas of specialised enquiry.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ understand and articulate concepts from, and distinctions between, a range of theoretical positions;

■ critically reflect on theoretical arguments;

■ communicate responses to the material studied on the course both orally and in written form through coherent and sustained argument;

■  demonstrate resilience and time management through effectively planning, undertaking and submitting coursework; 

■ deal with change and new challenges by applying their disciplinary skills and knowledge to previously unfamiliar research areas and questions.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.