Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism

An overview of various literary theories and critical approaches to the reception and analysis of literary texts, this discussion-based seminar will introduce concerns central to Western literary theories while familiarizing students with contemporary critical terminology. From Aristotle's Poetics to postmodernism, from issues of "literariness," authorial intention, hermeneutics, and narrative angle to the premises and practices of Russian formalist, "new critical," structuralist, Freudian, Marxist, feminist approaches, etc., we will study short theoretical and critical essays in conjunction with literary works by Coleridge, Lu Xun, Dickens, Natsume Soseki, Henry James, Hwang Chunming, Borges, Kafka, and others. Narrative prose fiction is the main focus. Discussion-based, senior-junior seminar. (Minimum of three college-level literature courses required; priority enrollment given to seniors and juniors majoring in Chinese and Literary Studies, or by waiver) 3 hrs. sem.