AJL20001/AJLA20001: Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theories I

This is a two-semester course designed to give students a grounding in the theoretical bases underlying the study of literature and culture. The first semester takes a diachronic approach, looking at the main critical schools and texts in the history of literary criticism and focusing on developments in literary theory in the twentieth century. The second semester employs a synchronic technique to examine the range of current theoretical approaches to the study of culture. In both semesters the stress is on the application of theory, with students being required to examine particular texts (of all kinds, including visual and film texts) in the light of the theoretical approaches under consideration.