ENGL 316 is an introductory level course designed to familiarize you with a variety of critical perspectives and help you understand literary works more profoundly by integrating literary theory in your response to these works. ENGL 316 also aims to prepare English program students for ENGL 423, which deals with some of the more contemporary literary theories covered in English 316 in more depth.
Outline
Chapter 1: Defining Criticism, Theory, and Literature
Chapter 2: A Historical Survey of Literary Criticism
Chapter 3: Russian Formalism and New Criticism
Chapter 4: Reader-Oriented Criticism
Chapter 5: Modernity and Postmodernism: Structuralism and Deconstruction
Chapter 6: Psychoanalytic Criticism
Chapter 7: Feminism
Chapter 8: Marxism
Chapter 9: Cultural Poetics or New Historicism
Chapter 10: Cultural Studies: Postcolonialism, African-American Criticism, and Queer Theory
Evaluation
To receive credit for ENGL 316, you must complete two essay assignments, two discussion forum posts, and a final examination. In order to pass the course, you must achieve a composite grade of at least D (50 percent) and a minimum grade of “D” (50 percent) on the final exam.
Activity
Weight
First discussion forum post
5%
First Essay
20%
Second discussion forum post
5%
Second Essay
20%
Final Exam
50%
Total
100%
The final examination for this course must be requested in advance and written under the supervision of an AU-approved exam invigilator. Invigilators include either ProctorU or an approved in-person invigilation centre that can accommodate online exams. Students are responsible for payment of any invigilation fees. Information on exam request deadlines, invigilators, and other exam-related questions, can be found at the Exams and grades section of the Calendar.
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Abrams, M. H. and Geoffrey Galt Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 11th ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013. (eText)
Bressler, Charles, E. ;Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 5th ;ed. Upper Saddle River,New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. (Print)
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 8th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2016. (Print)
Lodge, David and Nigel Wood, eds. Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader. 3rd ed. London: Pearson Longman, 2008. (Print)
Stott, Jon C., Raymond E. Jones, and Rick Bowers, eds. The Harbrace Anthology of Short Fiction. 4th ed. Toronto: Nelson Thomson Learning, 2006. (Print)
Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized study counterparts.