ENGL 64.07 Theory Before "Theory

The twentieth century saw the rise of what has come to be called “literary theory”; but people have been writing theories about literature — about its purpose, its effects, its operations and mechanisms, even its very existence — for as long as other people have been writing literature. Students in this class will study the works of some of the canonical figures in that centuries-old tradition — Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Kant, Schiller, Hegel, Nietzsche — alongside some other figures, such as Matthew Arnold, T. S. Eliot, and Erich Auerbach, who fall just outside the literary-theoretical canon but whose influence on literary studies has nonetheless been profound. Ideally, students will take this class as a complement to English 45: Introduction to Literary Theory rather than as an alternative to it.

Instructor

Not being offered in 2022-23

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:LIT; WCult:W

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Department-Specific Course Categories

Junior Colloquium: Course Group IV