C LIT 400 A: Introduction to Theory and Criticism

C LIT 400 A Wi 22: Introduction To Theory And Criticism

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INTRODUCTION TO THEORY AND CRITICISM

T-Th: 3:30 – 5:20, LOW 102

Instructor: Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen

Office hours:  Remote, by appointment

Email: mbj@uw.edu

Description: This course offers a survey of some of the major texts in the history of critical theory in the West.  No prior knowledge of theory is required but be prepared to read challenging texts at a fast pace. Each session focuses on one important author or theme relevant to the study of literature and the arts.  We will start with the Ancients (Plato, Aristotle, Longinus), meander through French 17^th century critics, 18^thcentury theories of genius, taste and the sublime, Romantic irony, and tackle the great modern philosophers:  Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger. Emphasis will be placed toward the end on 20^th century structuralism and post-structuralism:  Saussure, Jakobson, Barthes, Derrida.

Readings: Excerpts from Hazard Adams, ed., Critical Theory Since Plato (in course pack available at UW Book Store)

Assignments: One in-class midterm exam and one in-class final.

Schedule of meetings and readings:

T  Jan 3:      General introduction -- Enthusiasm:  Plato, Ion

Th  Jan 5:    Mimesis:  Plato, Republic

T Jan 10:     Mimesis and Catharsis:  Aristotle

Th  Jan 12:  Rules: Aristotle, Classicism

T  Jan 17:    The Sublime:  Longinus

Th  Jan 19:   Genius: Young

T  Jan 24:     Genius: Diderot

Th  Jan 26:   Aesthetics:  Burke

T  Jan 31:     Aesthetics: Kant

Th  Feb 2:    General review

T  Feb 7:      Mid-term exam

Th  Feb 9:    Irony: Schlegel

T  Feb 14:    Dialectic: Hegel

Th  Feb 16:  Apollonian/Dionysiac:  Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy

T  Feb 21:    The Unconscious: Freud, Jung

Th  Feb 23:   Aletheia: Heidegger

T  Feb 28:     Structure, Sign, Text:  Saussure, Jakobson

Th  Mar 2:     Structure, Sign, Text:  Barthes, Derrida.

T Mar 7:        General review

Th Mar 9:      Final exam