Literary Theory and Criticism

SEMESTER V

 LITERARY CRITICISM AND THEORY  

COURSE CODE 5 B 09 ENG  

MODULE I
A . CLASSICAL LITERARY CRITICISM:
What is literary criticism? – Classicism and Classical criticism: Plato and Aristotle.  
B.  NEO-CLASSICAL, ROMANTIC AND VICTORIAN LITERARY CRITICISM:
Neo-classicism (click here for a slide)
Neo-classical criticism: Dryden
 Romantic Revival: Wordsworth
Touchstone method of criticism by Arnold  (view this also)

CORE READING: (MODULES I PART A & B): INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH  
LITERARY CRITICISM BY B. PRASAD.
C. MODERN LITERARY CRITICISM:
T.S. Eliot: Tradition and individual Talent  (PPT)
CORE READING: 20TH CENTURY LITERARY CRITICISM, DAVID LODGE (71 – 77 AND 114)


MODULE 2: INDIAN AESTHETICS 
 SANSKRIT POETICS: AN OVERVIEW (KRISHNAMOORTHY) – INDIAN LITERARY CRITICISM: THEORY AND INTERPRETATION ED. BY G N DEVY, ORIENT LONGMAN, 2002 (PAGES: 317 – 342)

MODULE  3 -  KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS:   
Imperialism, Colonialism, Hegemony, Ideology, Identity,  Base and Superstructure, Reification, Alienation, Capitalism, Mimicry, Abrogation, Subject, Gynocriticism, Emasculation, Ecriture feminine, Repression, Regression, Canon, Defamiliarization, Diachronic and Synchronic, Discourse, Eurocentrism, Gaze, Gender, Intertextuality, Androgyny, Aporia, Orientalism, Hermeneutics.

REFERENCE TEXT:  
1. Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. VII edn. Thomson Heinle, India, 1999. Or A Handbook of Literary Terms
2. Literary Terms given in M.S. Nagarajan’s book

MODULE 4: CULTURAL AND LITERARY THEORIES IN APPLICATION:  

1. NEW CRITICISM/FORMALISM/CLOSE CRITICAL ANALYSIS: WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, “THE SOLITARY REAPER” (HOW TO READ A POEM: TERRY EAGLETON,  BLACKWELL, 2007 -  PAGES : 149-153)
2. PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM: REBELLION AGAINST THE FATHER IN HUCKLEBERRY FINN (Wilfred L. Guerin164-168) 
3. Archetypal Criticism: To His Coy Mistress (Wilfred L. Guerin, 199-201) 
4. Marxist and Feminist Literary Criticism: Tess of the D’Urbervilles(How to Study a Novel, John Peck, Macmillan1995 pages: 157-169)
5. Postcolonial Studies: Caliban to the Audience: The Tempest as Colonialist and Anti-Colonialist Text (http://reginaldshepherd.blogspot.com/2007/08/caliban-to-audience- tempest-as.html) 
6. Cultural Studies: From Columbus to Sachin Tendulkar: The Centuries. R.Viswanathan (Calicut University Research Journal, April 2001, pages 25 – 31) 
7. NEW HISTORICISM/CULTURAL MATERIALISM: “WHAT MEANS SICILIA? HE SOMETHING SEES UNSETTLED”:SICILY, RUSSIA, AND BOHEMIA IN WINTER’S TALE: R W DESAI (CRITICAL THEORY: TEXTUAL APPLICATION DE BY SHORMISHTHA PANJA, WORLDVIEW, 2002 PAGES 197 – 212) 

CORE READINGS:  

1. Wilfred L. Guerin et. al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992  
2. Panja, Shormishtha ed. Critical Theory: Textual Application. Worldview: Delhi, 2002) 
3. Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. VII edn. Thomson Heinle, India, 1999. 
4. Peck, John and Martin Coyle. Literary Terms and Criticism. Macmillan, London, 1993.  
5. Peck, John. How to Study a Novel. London: Macmillan, 1983, 1995.
6. Eagleton, Terry. How to Read a Poem. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. (Indian reprint in 2007 by the Atlantic).  7. (http://reginaldshepherd.blogspot.com/2007/08/caliban-to-audience- tempest-as.html) 

REFERENCE READINGS
1. Peter Barry.  Beginning Theory. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press. 1995. 2. REFERENCE: ENGLISH LITERARY CRITICISM AND THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION BY M.S. NAGARAJAN. NEW DELHI: ORIENT BLACK SWAN, 2006  3. INTERNET RESOURCES

Additional useful links
Two Uses of Language : I. A Richards