Programme: BA

Course: Introduction to Literary Theory

Semester: IV
Code: OEN401

Objectives
To introduce the students to concepts, concerns, critical debates in theorising
literary texts
To expose students to the applicability of the theoretical frameworks
To enable students to critically perceive and engage with productions of
meanings, significations and negotiations

Level of Knowledge: Working knowledge of English and literature

Module I 10 Hrs
What is Literature?

What is Literary Theory?

Humanist Literary Theory:

Plato; Aristotle; Horace, Sir Philip Sidney; Sir Francis Bacon; Joseph
Addison; Edmond Burke; Samuel Johnson; Sir Joshua Reynolds; William
Wordsworth; Samuel Taylor Coleridge; John Keats; Edgar Allan Poe;
Matthew Arnold

Module II 10 Hrs
Structuralism:
Ferdinand de Saussure; Claude Levi-Strauss and The Structural Study of
Myth; Humanism, Structuralism, Poststructuralism

Deconstruction: Binary Opposition; The Role of the Centre; Bricolage

Module III 15 Hrs

Psychoanalysis:
Sigmund Freud Creative Writers and Day Dreaming; Jacques Lacan; Self
to Subject

Feminism:
Pre-poststructuralist Feminist Literary Theory; Poststructuralist Feminist
Literary Theory; Hlne Cixous and The Laugh of the Medusa; Luce
Irigaray and This Sex Which Is Not One

Queer Theory:
Flexible Sexuality?; Gay/Lesbian Studies; History to Historicism; Humanist
History; New Historicism

Module IV 15 Hrs
Ideology and Discourse:
Marxist Theory: A Few Basics; Loius Althusser and Ideology; Mikhail
Bakhtin and Discourse in the Novel; Michel Foucault: Power/Knowledge,
and the Author Function
Race and Postcolonialism:
Colonialism and English; Henry Louis Gates Jr and The Signifying Monkey;
Postcolonialism and Orientalism; Homi Bhaba and The Location of Culture;
Gloria Anzalda and Boderlands/La Frontera

Postmodernism:
Modernity; Jean Baudrillard; Jean-Franois Lyotard; Giles Deleuze and Felix
Guattari

Module V 10 Hrs
Indian Classical Literary Theories:
Rasa, Alamkara; Riti; Dhvani; Vakrokti; Guna/Dosa; Aucitya; Mahavakya;
Discourse Analysis; Rajasekharas Composite Model; Interpretation

Jonathan Culler Literary Theory in the Undergraduate Programme

Total No of Hrs: 60

Bibliography
Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 8th ed. New York: Wardworth, 2005.
Ahmand, Aijaz. In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures. Rpt. New Delhi: OUP,
2006.
Culler, Jonathan. The Pursuit of Signs: Semiotics, literature, deconstruction.
London/New York: Routledge, 2001.
Devy, G.N., ed. Indian Literary Criticism: Theory and Interpretation. Rpt.
Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 2007.
Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008
---. The Function of Criticism. London: Verso, 2005.
Gurrin, Wilfred L, et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 5th ed.
New York: OUP, 2005.
Habib, M.A.R., ed. A History of Literary Criticism and Theory: From Plato to the
Present. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008.
John, Eileen, and Dominic McIver Lopes, eds. Philosophy of Literature:
Contemporary and Classic Readings. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
John, Eileen, and Dominic McIver Lopes. Philosophy of Literature: Contemporary
and Classic Readings. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
Kapoor, Kapil. Literary Theory: Indian Conceptual Framework. New Delhi:
Affiliated East-West Press, 1998.
Klages, Mary. Literary Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Continuum, 2006
Leitch, Vincent B., ed. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New York:
Norton, 2001.
Rice, Philip, and Patricia Waugh. Modern Literary Theory. 4th ed. London: Hodder
Arnold, 2001.
Rivkin, Julie, Michael Ryan, eds. Literary Theory: An Introduction. Rev ed. Oxford:
Blackwell, 2003.
Rooney, Ellen ed. Feminist Literary Theory. Cambridge: CUP, 2006.
Waugh, Patricia. Literary Theory and Criticism: An Oxford Guide. Oxford: OUP,
2006.

Testing Pattern:
Mid Semester
5x10=50

End Semester and end semester pattern

5x20=100

The question can be specific to topics or comparative.