Would appreciate any suggestions

[Sindhu]

I am going to be teaching Literary Criticism and Theory for the first time next semester to a batchof MA students. It is a compulsoy six credit course as opposed to all other courses which carry 4 credits each. I have to start from Pre Socratic criticism and end with yesterday's theory as far as I can understand! Areas, texts, methods- suggestions regarding any of these would be very welcome indeed!

[Monica]

I'm studying English and American literature and we've had loads of literary theory throughout the studies and hardly anybody likes it. I think it's because it's a difficult subject and most teachers treat it only from a theoretical point of view. I'd suggest that you also give examples from literature, you know try to make it more practical. Or ask the students to find examples themselves.

As far as the area of study goes, the most popular at our uni are the Franch and Russian theoreticians including Barthes, Foucault, Derrida, Lacan, Shklovsky or Bakhtin. My personal favourite is Umberto Eco, though. His "The Role of the Reader" is pretty useful.

[Sindhu]

Thanks a lot. I share the opinion that mugging up "theory" unless you know what to do with it is a totally useless activity. I am trying to focus my course as much as possible on using the concepts taught and being able to disagree and argue out your disagreement with practical illustrations.

[Lyn]

I have been on and off trying to understand critical theory for ages and found it very difficult until I came across 'Literary theory for the Perplexed' by Mary Klages. I can't recommend it enough; it is simple, straightforward and makes everything make sense, pointing out the connections between the different theories and how they developed. Starts with Plato and ends with post colonial theories.Wish I'd read it at uni.

[aeroport]

I have been on and off trying to understand critical theory for ages and found it very difficult until I came across 'Literary theory for the Perplexed' by Mary Klages. I can't recommend it enough; it is simple, straightforward and makes everything make sense, pointing out the connections between the different theories and how they developed. Starts with Plato and ends with post colonial theories.Wish I'd read it at uni.

That sounds really good; I might have to look into it.

I can't say it's a very simple read, but Eagleton's Literary Theory: an Introduction is pretty good.

[lavendar1]

Best of luck to you in your endeavor of teaching literary theory. I think many students regard it as impenetrable and arid. You might want to take a look at Literary Theory: a Very Short Introduction, by Jonathan Culler. I’m a big fan of that whole ‘short introduction’ series by Oxford University Press. The language is immensely readable and should serve to calm the nerves of those who have lit criticism anxiety. There is a drawback, though: the text delivers just what it promises – a very short introduction to the field. You won’t find in-depth treatment given to any of the varieties of criticism.

I just bought a book called The Art of Criticism: Henry James on the Theory and the Practice of Fiction, edited by William Veeder and Susan M. Griffin. I always enjoyed the prefaces to James’s books, and it seems this book reveals much about his contributions to criticism. Granted, you’re not going to find the terminology associated with contemporary criticism, but emphasizing the fact that James was both a practicing writer and critic might be useful to you in engaging your students. I’m not far into it, but it looks like James turns a critical eye toward Turgenieff, Hawthorne, and Eliot, among others. To me, the practice of criticism should result in enhanced appreciation of literature. And James is a master of using the text’s context (both his and others’ writing) to accomplish this.

Good luck!

[AuntShecky]

Covers many centuries!
Aristotle on aesthetics
Shakespeare's contemporaries, Ben Jonson, et. al.
And "our" modern and contemporaries:
T.S. Eliot (especially on 17th c. poetry),
Americans? The "New" (now old) criticism,Robert Penn Warren, The Well-Wrought Urn, etc.
Maybe you'll have time to include twenty and twenty-first
centuries: the late Susan Sontag, and don't forget Harold Bloom.
The craze over Jacques Derrida didn't happen until I was long gone, but his school is really au courant right now.
(It's been decades since I've been in school. If I remember any, I'll let you know.)
Aunt Shecky

[whispers]

"Beginning Theory" is a fine book (may not be for classical theories though)
It serves a teaching guide too...find concrete examples from literature to explain it...
All the best teaching Criticism...my favy

[yuka]

i suggest basing on a mature modern literary theory, then from time to time interposing other's theory, like (i will suggest) Plato or Herace or Wordsworth or anybody your's favorite.