English 190

Book List

Eagleton, Terry: Ideology: An Introduction

Description

This research seminar will focus on the concept of ideology. We will examine the manner in which ideology has been employed as a category for social analysis, but we will gear our attention especially toward the ways ideology has been useful for literary criticism. We will study critiques of ideology from various methodological perspectives: Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism, post-structuralism and critical race theory. While much of the reading material will be theoretical, we will ground our analytical explorations by reading and discussing several short works of fiction (especially in the second half of the semester), likely including works by Ralph Ellison, Flannery O’Connor, Mahasweta Devi, Virginia Woolf, Manuel Rojas, James Baldwin, Jack London, Sandra Cisneros, Isak Dinesen, Andre Dubus, Raymond Carver, John Berger, Juan Rulfo, Dylan Thomas, William Faulkner, and Toni Morrison.  Students will be required to write a research paper, deliver a short presentation in class, and contribute to class discussions. Most of the readings will be included in a substantial course reader.

Please read the paragraph about English 190 on page 2 of the instructions area of this Announcement of Classes for more details about enrolling in or wait-listing for this course.