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.
Overview
Syllabus
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
Taught by
Dr. Rajesh Kumar
