General
Instructor : Sotirios Bampatzimopoulos
Weekly outline
Week 1
A brief introduction to the course.
What is Literary Theory and Literary Criticism?
Why is Literary Theory relevant today?
How can we apply theory to our every day lives?
Week 2
What is New Criticism?
Basic concepts of New Criticism.
Reading a text according to New Criticism.
Example: "There Is a Girl Inside" (1977) by Lucille Clifton.
Read: Chapter 5 from Critical Theory Today by Lois Tyson
Week 3
What is Structuralism?
Basic concepts of Structuralism.
How do we approach a text according to Structuralism?
Read: Chapter 7 from Critical Theory Today by Lois Tyson
Week 4
What is Post-structuralism?
Basic concepts of Post-structuralism.
How do we approach a text according to Post-structuralism?
Read: Chapter 8 from Critical Theory Today by Lois Tyson
Week 5
Psychoanalytic criticism (Part I)
Freud and Psychoanalysis.
Basic concepts of Freudian psychoanalysis.
How does a Freudian critic approach a text?
Read: Chapter 2 from Critical Theory Today by Lois Tyson
Week 6
REVISION
Theory into practice.
Application of all the theories (New Criticism, Structuralism, Post-structuralism and Freudian psychoanalysis) on the same text, so that we can see how one text can be approached from many different perspectives.
Read: "The Oval Portrait" (1842) by Edgar Allan Poe
Week 8
Psychoanalytic criticism (Part II)
Lacan and Psychoanalysis.
Basic concepts of Lacanian psychoanalysis.
How does a Lacanian critic approach a text?
Read: Chapter 2 from Critical Theory Today by Lois Tyson
Week 9
What is Marxist Criticism?
Basic concepts of Marxist theory.
How do we approach a text according to Marxist Criticism?
Example: A Marxist analysis of Maupassant's "The Necklace."
Read: Chapter 3 from Critical Theory Today by Lois Tyson and "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
Week 10
Feminism (Part I)
What is Feminism?
Brief history of Feminism.
Basic concepts of Feminism.
How do we approach a text according to Feminism?
Read: Chapter 4 from Critical Theory Today by Lois Tyson
Week 11
Feminism (Part II)
Example: Read Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" and approach the text from a feminist perspective.
Open Discussion: The students are called to bring a "text" of their choice (short story, poem, advertisement, photograph, painting) and analyze it from a feminist perspective.
Read: "The Story of an Hour" (1894) by Kate Chopin
Week 12
What is Postcolonial Criticism?
Basic concepts of Postcolonial Criticism.
How do we approach a text according to Postcolonial Criticism?
Read: Chapter 12 from Critical Theory Today by Lois Tyson
Week 13
REVISION
Theory into practice.
Application of all the theories (Lacanian psychoanalysis, Marxist Criticism, Feminism and Postcolonial Criticism) on the same text, so that we can see how one text can be approached from many different perspectives.
Read: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" (1973) by Ursula K. Le Guin and "The Thing Around Your Neck" (2009) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie