This course aims to introduce students to some of the core issues in the study of English literature. On the one hand, the course familiarizes students with characteristic features of the key historical periods of modern English literature; on the other hand, it touches upon some core trends and questions in contemporary theories of literature, using set primary texts as case studies.
Seminar Structure
1 Realism – Feminist Theory: Literature as a Cultural Artifact and a Mirror of Society
2 Modernism – Narratology: the Deep Structure of Narrative Fiction
3 Postmodernism – Intertextuality, Metafiction, Historicity
4 Presentation and Discussion of Individual Research
Outcomes
Students will be able to identify and distinguish different mainstream theoretical approaches to literary analysis, and to identify period-specific features of realist, modernist and postmodernist literary works in different genres. They will be better endowed to analyze literary texts using clear theoretical methods, and to critically reflect on pieces of literary criticism. Writing skills will also be improved.