MEG-05: Literary Theory & Criticism

This course is a compulsory course for doing M.A. in English. This is a very important course where the realm of Literary theory discourses will enable the learners to broaden their horizon of knowledge towards developing a broad appreciation of global literature. Reading a text through the lens of literary theory always provides a new perspective to better understand literature, learn more about different authors' intentions, and generally improve the quality of literature for both authors and readers. It is literary theory thatformulates the relationship between author and work; literary theory develops the significance of race, class, and gender for literary study, both from the standpoint of the biography of the author and an analysis of their thematic presence within texts. The works of literary criticism will help the learners to make better sense of the work, form judgments about literature, study ideas from different points of view, and determine onan individual level whether a literary work is worth reading.

Weeks

Topics

Week-1: Block-1 An Introduction

Unit- 1: Literature, Criticism and Theory

Unit-2: Overview of Western Critical Thought

Unit-3: Twentieth Century

Week-2: Block-1 An Introduction

Unit-4: The Function f Criticism

Unit-5: Indian Aesthetics

Unit-6: Resistance to Theory/How to Read a Reader

Week-3: Block-2 Classical Criticism

Unit-1: Features of Classical Criticism

Unit-2: Plato on Imitation and Art

Unit-3 : Aristotle’s Theory of Imitation

Week-4: Block-2 Classical Criticism

Unit-4: Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy-I

Unit-5: Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy-II

Unit-6: Criticism as Dialogue

Week-5: Block-3 Romantic Criticism

Unit-1: Romanticism

Unit-2: Wordsworth: Preface to Lyrical Ballads

Week-6: Block-3 Romantic Criticism

Unit-3: Coleridge: Biographia Literaria

Unit-4: P.B. Shelley: A Defence of Poetry

Week-7: Block-4 New Criticism

Unit-1: I.A.Richards

Unit-2: T.S.Eliot

Unit-3: F.R. Leavis

Week-8: Block-4 New Criticism

Unit-4: John Crowe Ransom and Cleanth Brooks

Unit-5: W.K. Wimsatt

Unit-6: Conclusion

Week-9: Block-5 Marxist View of Literature

Unit-1: Marxism and Literature

Unit-2: Society and History: Marxist View

Unit-3: Representing and Critiquing society: Superstructures

Week-10: Block-5 Marxist View of Literature

Unit-4: Commitment in Literature

Unit-5: Autonomy in Literature

Unit-6: Literature and Ideology

Week-11: Block-6 Feminist Theories

Unit-1: Features of Feminist Criticism

Unit-2: Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women

Unit-3: Virginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own

Week-12: Block-6 Feminist Theories

Unit-4: Simone De Beauvoir: The Second Sex

Unit-5: Elain Showalter: ‘Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness’

Unit-6: Feminist Concern in India Today

Week-13: Block-7 Deconstruction

Unit-1: Roots: New Criticism and Structuralism

Unit-2: Beginning Deconstruction

Unit-3: Implications

Week-14: Block-7 Deconstruction

Unit-4: Deconstructing Poetry

Unit-5: Deconstructing Drama

Unit-6: Re-assessing Deconstruction

Week-15: Block-8 Contemporary Literacy Theory

Unit-1: Some Basic Issues

Unit-2: Postmodernism: The Basics

Unit-3: Psychoanalysis: Freud and Lacan

Week-16: Block-8 Contemporary Literacy Theory

Unit-4: Postcolonial Theory: Said, Spivak and Bhabha

Unit-5: Beginnings of Cultural Studies and New Historicism

Unit-6: Literary Criticism and Theory: A Summing Up