Theory & Criticism

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• • The key theoretical and analytical issues raised by the study of text
• • The ways in which literary and critical theories can be applied to other disciplines and fields
• • The history and ideological contexts of various literary and critical approaches

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• • Evaluate and contrast critical positions and their implications for literary and cultural studies;
• • Engage closely with a critical essay, analysing its argument, implications, and rhetorical style
• • Articulate your critical understanding of complex ideas

This module poses crucial questions about the production, meaning and reception of literature. These questions arise from both ‘literary’ and ‘non-literary’ texts, and the syllabus will examine some of the ways in which they have been addressed by critics and theorists from a diverse range of intellectual traditions. The essays you will read will lay the groundwork for studying texts throughout your degree. Through reading these essays closely and with care, you will familiarise yourself with the critical and conceptual work that has been most important in addressing these basic questions of literary study.

Topics and questions for this module might include:

What is an author?

What is a book?

Do we mean what we say?

Can texts mean anything we want them to mean?

What is the relationship between texts and the ‘real world’?

Seminar discussion will prompt wider questions, such as:

Who is a human?

What is an animal?

What are feelings?

What is art?

Do we have agency over our lives?

Topics you might study to answer them may include: class, history, the body, the psyche, race, postcolonialism, sexuality, desire, the commodity, and value.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include:

• Lectures which construct historical outlines, and introduce theoretical positions, issues and problems;
• Seminars that include presentations, close readings, and writing exercises;
• Individual meetings with a tutor upon request (available twice weekly in office hours, or at other times to be arranged), especially to discuss written work before and after it is submitted.

Learning activities include:

• Individual reading of critical essays and further independent research;
• Seminars that include short presentations, group work, and collaborative discussions;
• Formative written analyses of theoretical texts, and the writing of essays.

This module includes a Learning Support Hour. This is a flexible weekly contact hour, designed to support and respond to the particular cohort taking the module from year to year. This hour will include (but not be limited to) activities such as language, theory and research skills classes; group work supervisions; assignment preparation and essay writing guidance; assignment consultations; feedback and feed-forward sessions.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism. Norton.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External