ENGL 305 Survey of Literary Theory
This course provides an introduction to the most important schools of literary interpretation. It will examine the primary schools of thought as well as the debates that surround them. For example, the New Critics claim an interpretation should stand regardless of the author's time period, while New Historicists argue that all readers should be historians of the life and times of their favorite authors. The interpretation of literature has also taken on political importance with the development of Feminist Theory, LGBT Theory, Postcolonial Theory, and/or Cultural Studies. This course explores these schools and more while honing the student's skills of literary interpretation through analysis, critical writing, and the development of a lexicon related to these skills.