ENG-280 Theory & Methods of the Study of Literature 3 credits
Prerequisites: FYS-101 and ENG-299T
By introducing major movements and theories informing scholarly studies in literature, this course helps prepare serious students of literature for advanced study and research in the field. Students explore and apply major 20th-century literary theories, thereby observing both how literature lends itself to different forms of interpretation and how the formal study of literature has changed over time. Students also write a substantial literary analysis grounded in literary-theoretical approaches. Topics of discussion may include new criticism, structuralism, psychoanalytic criticism, Marxism, deconstruction, post-structuralism, gender studies, new formalism, race and ethnic studies, cultural studies, queer theory, new historicism, postcolonial theory, phenomenology, and ecocriticism. This course is intended for majors in Creative Writing and Literature in English and highly recommended for those intending to pursue graduate studies in English.