English 202

History of Literary Criticism: History of Literary Theory

Book List

Aristotle: Poetics; Kant, Immanuel: Critique of Judgment; Plato: Republic

Other Readings and Media

Other readings will be posted on B-courses.

Description

An introduction to Western literary theory from antiquity to the present, focusing on the historical shift from the disciplines of poetics and rhetoric to that of aesthetics, with special attention to the concept of aesthetics and the discourse of the sublime. Readings in Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Augustine, Sidney, Erasmus, Kant, Adorno, Lyotard, Scarry, and Ngai.  The syllabus is designed to be particularly helpful to students in English, but students from other departments are welcome and may write their final paper on a primary text or texts in other languages.

Other Recent Sections of This Course