Approaches to Literary Interpretation

This course provides a grounding in key historical and contemporary debates about the nature, purpose, techniques, and goals of literary study. Students learn applied criticism of modern approaches to literary interpretation and analysis. These include psychological/psychoanalytic, formalist, and mythic readings, among others. Students are introduced to theory and model criticism, and they practice interpretation with various genres through writing-intensive classes and assignments. Topics to be addressed include: challenges involved in situation texts in their historical contexts; multiplicity of meaning; the question of authorial intention; analyzing how texts encode or subvert ideas of gender, identity, class, race, and language; the impact of digital technology on literary thought and circulation, and the relation between language and reality.