English 110B - Winter, 2012

Introduction to Modern Literary and Critical Theory

Class Information

Instructor: Brown, Nathan
Time: MWF 11:00-11:50
Location: 106 Olson

Description

This course will offer an introduction to major theoretical concepts and traditions that have influenced approaches to literary studies and inquiry in the humanities more broadly. In the first half of the course we will focus on the manner in which a postwar generation of French thinkers (Fanon, Althusser, Foucault, Lacan, Derrida) transformed the major concepts and problems at stake in the work of their German precursors (Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud). In the latter half of the course we will turn to contemporary theoretical approaches that emerge from and transform the traditions we have been studying, focusing on postcolonial theory, gender/sexuality studies, and media/technology studies.

Tentative Outline

The Concept of Enlightenment/The Wretched of the Earth
Week 1 — Enlightenment: Kant, Adorno
Week 2 — Domination: Hegel, Fanon

The Discourse of Suspicion
Week 3 — Production: Marx, Althusser
Week 4 — Genealogy: Nietzsche, Foucault
Week 5 — The Unconscious: Freud, Lacan
Week 6 — Speech & Writing: Saussure, Derrida

Alterity, Desire, Technics, Truths
Week 7 — Alterity: Said, Spivak, Bhabha
Week 8 — Desire: Deleuze, Irigaray, Butler
Week 9 — Technics: McCluhan, Kittler, Haraway
Week 10 — Truths: Badiou, Ethics

Grading

Attendance and Participation: 10%
Discussion Posts: 20%
Paper 1: 20%
Paper 2: 30%
Final Exam: 20%

Texts

Course Reader