Introduction to Literary Theory
Class Information
Instructor: Stratton, Matthew
CRN: 55318
Time: TR 9:00-10:20
Location: 230 Wellman
Description
This course will consider the work of writers ranging from Plato to Friedrich Nietzsche as we engage in what one literary theorist has called "a controlled reflection on the formation of method." More than an introduction to the philosophy of literature before roughly 1900 CE, we will carefully and rigorously consider normative distinctions between literary and non-literary language, key formulations about the relationship between ethics and aesthetics, competing definitions of "the beautiful" and "the sublime," and the contentious roles that different modes of representation and interpretation should or should not play in a given society.
Grading
Pop Quizzes and In-Class Writing: 25%
Two Short Essays: 50%
Final Exam: 25%
Texts
Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, 2nd ed., Vincent Leitch, et al.