General Description of the Course: This is a preparatory course for advanced study in the humanities, especially (but not only) for students of language, literature and film.
The goal of the course is to give you a foundation in central texts of theory and criticism in the humanities broadly defined, and to acquaint you with several of the different terms and methods used in literary and cultural analysis. In a series of handouts, you will be introduced as well to various schools of criticism that have developed in the postwar period, to key terms and concepts, and to the special challenges of working in an interdisciplinary fashion. There is no effort in the course to present a specific case, to outline a governing thesis, or to argue on behalf of one critical school. In fact, the ideal outcome is for you to learn about as wide a range of theoretical positions as possible in a single semester. But as you will see, there will be an inherent unity at some level among the thinkers I have chosen this term; this is not simply a great books course, in other words, where every week proposes to start anew. The syllabus is chronological, and almost every one of these thinkers was explicitly in dialogue with those who appear before them on the list. The sciences vs. the humanities, axiological vs. metaphorical thinking, philosophy or theory, epistemology or ontology: these are some of the problems posed. We will attempt to understand and synthesize their most characteristic styles of argument, and you will be asked to demonstrate your ability to explicate passages, and to lead discussion while doing so. Another important aspect of the course will be to discuss professional issues, including strategies for publishing, the way to approach research techniques, the importance of method, mentorship, and other professional matters. In recognition of our uneven levels of training, the course has been set up to accommodate the greatest number of you while retaining the goal of rigorous intellectual preparation. Much of the course, as you can see, concentrates on key works by philosophers and social theorists in the Western tradition.
In addition to the required books of the course, I have included a course packet with additional readings. All the required readings will be found either among the required texts or in the course packet.