Postgraduate Course: Critical Theory: Issues and Debates (ENLI11101)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | English Literature |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course will introduce students to a range of contemporary theoretical debates within literary studies. For those who have little prior experience of literary theory, it offers a groundwork for future exploration; for those already well-versed in the discussion of theory, it will offer the opportunity to broaden and deepen your understanding, to reflect on the place of theory within your own critical practice, and to pursue new directions in your studies. It will provide a detailed overview of critical and literary theory as it has developed since the early twentieth century, but will also seek to situate those developments within the larger history of criticism, and specifically in relation to intellectual and cultural changes since the late eighteenth century. Particular consideration will be given to the intersection and overlap between literary studies and other areas of the humanities and social sciences such as historiography, philosophy, and social theory. The course will also consider questions such as what constitutes 'research' in critical theory, how to read carefully and respond thoughtfully to work which can often be dense and forbidding, and how to relate your understanding of theory to the sensitive reading of literary texts. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Delivery period: 2012/13 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| Central | Lecture | room 110, 24 Buccleuch Place | 1-11 | | 10:00 - 10:50 | | | | | Central | Seminar | Room 2.05, 10 Buccleuch Place | 1-11 | | | | 14:00 - 14:50or 15:00 - 15:50 | |
| First Class |
Week 1, Tuesday, 10:00 - 10:50, Zone: Central. Room 110, 24 Buccleuch Place, 15th January 2013 |
| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| This course will introduce students to a range of contemporary theoretical debates within literary studies. For those who have little prior experience of literary theory, it offers a groundwork for future exploration; for those already well-versed in the discussion of theory, it will offer the opportunity to broaden and deepen your understanding, to reflect on the place of theory within your own critical practice, and to pursue new directions in your studies. It will provide a detailed overview of critical and literary theory as it has developed since the early twentieth century, but will also seek to situate those developments within the larger history of criticism, and specifically in relation to intellectual and cultural changes since the late eighteenth century. Particular consideration will be given to the intersection and overlap between literary studies and other areas of the humanities and social sciences such as historiography, philosophy, and social theory. The course will also consider questions such as what constitutes ¿research¿ in critical theory, how to read carefully and respond thoughtfully to work which can often be dense and forbidding, and how to relate your understanding of theory to the sensitive reading of literary texts. |
Assessment Information
| The course will be assessed via the submission of three written assignments: a short précis of a critical or theoretical text (500 words), a structured research exercise leading to the creation of an annotated bibliography (1000 words), and the completion of a final course essay (2500 words). The assessments will be weighted at 15%, 25% and 60% respectively. Submission dates will be week 5, week 8 and then the standard school submission date for option courses (i.e. week 12 of semester 1) (TBC before start of course). |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
1: Introduction to Critical Theory
2: Culture and Criticism
3: What is an artwork? 1: The New Criticism
4: What is an artwork? 2: The Marxist debates
5: Historicism and Hermeneutics: Is Literary History Possible?
6: Who¿s afraid of Structuralism?
7: Ideology and the subject of literature
8: Foucault and after 1: between history and sociology
9: Foucault and after 2: power and the political
10: New Directions in Contemporary Theory
|
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Primary reading:
Adorno, Bloch et. al. Aesthetics and Politics. Verso Radical Thinkers edition.
Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge Routledge Classics edition
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality: vol 1 The Will to Knowledge (first English edition was subtitled An Introduction) Penguin edition.
Other primary reading will be via electronic journal articles linked on "Learn".
Preliminary Secondary reading
Numerous anthologies, introductions, and companions to literary and critical theory are available, which you may find stimulating, although this course does not rely on ¿ or recommend - any particular such text. More adventurous readers interested in more recent assessments of the situation of critical theory now might consider looking at:
* Terry Eagleton, After Theory, London: Penguin, 2003.
*** Jane Elliott and Derek Attridge, Theory after ¿Theory¿, London: Routledge, 2011.
** Jean-Michel Rabaté, The Future of Theory, Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.
* = readable; ** = harder going; *** = pretty dense in places.
|
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | CTIaD |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alex Thomson
Tel: (0131 6)50 3058
Email: Alex.Thomson@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Natalie Carthy
Tel: (0131 6)50 3030
Email: Natalie.Carthy@ed.ac.uk |
|
© Copyright 2012 The University of Edinburgh - 31 August 2012 4:02 am
|
University Homepage