English 161

Book List

Fanon, Frantz: The Wretched of the Earth; Gilbert, Sandra and Gubar, Susan: Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism; Williams, Raymond: Marxism and Literature

Description

This course offers an introduction to literary theory with a focus on 20^th- and 21^st-century social and political approaches, including Marxism, feminism, race and ethnicity, post-colonialism, and ecocriticism. The course will strive to provide students with an understanding of the basic concepts, methods, and vocabulary employed in these various theoretical systems, as well as the differences between them.  We will ground our study of literary theory by reading and discussing several works of short fiction.  The course will require a substantial amount of reading and writing.  You will need to purchase a course reader.