Literary Criticism and Critical Theory

Paper Code: 
ENG 321
Credits: 
04
Periods/week: 
04
Max. Marks: 
100
Objective: 

  • The course will enable the students to:

    • Understand the principles of critical theory in the shaping of literature
    • Trace the historical development of literary theory and its role in English studies
    • Develop an enhanced ability to read, contextualize, and compare primary material by different literary theorists

Course Outcomes

The students will be able to:

  •  Gain a foundational understanding of the history of criticism and literary theories
  • Get an insight into the textual application of critical theories
  •  Acquire knowledge of how the key ideas and debates in modern literary theory enhance the reading of literary works and help in considering the relevance of theoretical approaches

 

10.00
Unit I: 

 

 Aristoles Poetics

 

8.00

T.S. Eliot :Tradition and the Individual Talent

14.00
Unit III: 

Roland Barthes      

 (pp. 72-76 from M.A.R. Habib)

Roland Barthes      

 (pp. 72-76 from M.A.R. Habib)

 

Deconstruction: Jacques Derrida         

Extract from

“Derrida, Deconstruction and  Literary Interpretation” (from lib.kshs.kh.edu.tw/lib/journals/journals-94/P145.pdf)

 

12.00
Unit IV: 

Western Feminism:  Feminisms         

 (pp.82-90, 94-108 from Pramod K. Nayar)

 

Indian Feminism: A People Without a History? 

(pp. 1-10 & 23 from Jasbir Jain)

 

16.00
Unit V: 

Psychoanalytic Criticism (pp. 63-73 from Pramod K. Nayar)

 

Postcolonial Theory (pp.153-72 & 175-78 from Pramod K. Nayar)

 

Source Books: 
  • Enright and Chickera eds. English Critical Texts. OUP, 1997.
  • Nayar, Pramod K. Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: From Structuralism to Ecocriticism. Pearson, 2010.

 

SUGGESTED READINGS: 
  • Das, Bijoy and J.M. Mohanty. Literary Criticism: A Reading. OUP, 1989.
  • Olsen, Flemming. Eliot’s Objective Correlative: Tradition or Individual Talent: Contributions to the History of a Topos. Susan Academic Press, 2014.
  • Wilfred L. Guerin, etal: A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. OUP, 1999.

 

Academic Year: 
2020-2021