Go to Table of Contents English ENGL3703 Critical Theory and the Academy What does it mean to study literature? What does it mean to be a literary critic? What role does theory play for a literary critic in analyzing literature? Does “high theory” have any application outside of the academy? Should it? What are the connections between theory and practice? These are some of the questions we will explore as we study the history and development of literary and cultural theory. We will focus on the dominant theoretical approaches of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Marxism, structuralism, deconstruction, feminist criticism, queer theory, and post-colonial theory. This course is recommended for all interested in literary and cultural theories and especially those interested in the teaching profession or those continuing on to graduate school, where a basic working knowledge of major theories is expected. Fall semester, alternate years, expected fall 2012. 4 credits Prerequisites: ENGL1208 or ENGL1502 and two 2000-level courses and junior or senior status
Fall semester, alternate years, expected fall 2012. 4 credits Prerequisites: ENGL1208 or ENGL1502 and two 2000-level courses and junior or senior status ENGL3707 Film Theory The course introduces students to the history of film and to “classical” and contemporary approaches to theorizing film. At the same time that students learn about cinema as an artistic form, they learn to think and write critically about its cultural relevance. Students read key theoretical texts, study nine films, and learn to analyze them using various theoretical approaches, including ideological criticism, psychoanalytic theory, feminist theory, and queer theory. Possible films include Citizen Kane (1941), Strike (1925), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Rear Window (1954), Fatal Attraction (1987), The Color Purple (1985), Paris Is Burning (1990), and Slacker (1991). Fall semester. 4 credits Prerequisites: ENGL1208 or ENGL1502, two 2000-level English courses and junior status. American Studies students: Junior status and instructor’s permission ENGL3708 Digital Culture What happens to a culture when it spends significant amounts of time socializing in mediated spaces? What is a “digital culture” and does it differ significantly from an “analog culture?” This course considers, in theory and practice, the effects of “new media” on contemporary society. By evaluating critical theory in media and cultural studies, students will gain a clearer understanding of how the digital world has altered the ways we think, behave, and interact. Spring semester, alternate years, expected spring 2014. 4 credits
2012-2013 Academic Catalog
Course Descriptions for Liberal Arts and Sciences
ENGL3705 Monsters, Madness and Mayhem: The Gothic Tradition in Film and Literature This course traces the development of the Gothic tradition in both literature and foreign and American cinema. We will examine the historical roots of the genre in British literature, then shift our focus to American writers and their treatment of the Gothic in classic and contemporary fiction. We will also spend time viewing some classic “B” films that use the Gothic as a central cinematic and narrative device, and compare those versions to the literature. However, the central question we will ask of all the texts for the course is “what does the enduring popularity of the Gothic in both literature and film say about us and the genre itself?”
167