English 190

Other Readings and Media

Eagleton, T.: 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 pay attention especially to the ways that ideology has been useful for literary criticism. Students will study critiques of ideology from various methodological perspectives: Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism, postmodernism, and critical race theory. While much of the reading material will be theoretical, the purpose of the course is to provide students with a practical understanding of ideology as a method for literary studies.To ground our theoretical explorations, we will read and analyze several short works of fiction, including works by James Baldwin, Mahasweta Devi, Isak Dinesen, Ralph Ellison, William Faulkner, Franz Kafka, Jack London, Katherine Mansfield, Herman Melville, N. Scott Momaday, Joyce Carol Oates, Flannery O’Connor, Tomas Rivera, Juan Rulfo, Amy Tan, and Virginia Woolf. Students will be required to write a research paper.

English 190 replaced English 100 and 150 as of Fall '09. English majors may fulfill the seminar requirement for the major by taking one section of English 190 (or by having taken either English 100 or English 150 before Fall '09). Please read the paragraph on page 2 of this Announcement of Classes for more details about enrolling in, or wait-listing for, this course.