ENGL 290 Introduction to Literary Methods

This course will introduce students to contemporary critical methodologies in literary studies. Students will engage a wide range of critical approaches to help ground their subsequent study of literature across the English department curriculum. By studying influential works of theory and criticism, students will become familiar with the historical genesis of literary studies, with special attention to the political, social, and other institutional factors informing the rise of particular methodologies in the academe. We will trace these critical genealogies so as to recognize and participate in the fullness of literary studies.