008:129 The Critical Tradition
Theory and the Social World

Professor Florence S. Boos

This course will focus on the history of critical texts which consider the social implications of literature and language. Among the points of view represented in the authors we read will be blends of Marxism, feminism, gender studies, cultural studies, psychological and psychoanalytic approaches, reader-response theory, post-colonial and race theory, film theory, ecocriticism, and ethics and literature. Many of our selections will be from the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, which I will supplement with several handouts (on ecocriticism, ethics and other topics).

Students will be asked to post brief responses to the course texts on our ICON discussion board, to bring in questions and "applications" for class discussion, and to write two critical essays evaluating course material and related readings.