ENG 2900 Literary Studies: Theories and Methods
When The Best American Poetry anthologized a poem by Yi-Fen Chou, under the assumption it was written by a woman of color, the revelation of the author's true identity – a middle-aged white man, living in Indiana – rekindled longstanding debates over race and representation in American letters. J. K. Rowling's stream of Harry Potter tweets asks whether an author can alter or supplement her fictional universe after the fact. And the internet has generated new possibilities for interactive fiction and creative expression, even as it has stoked disagreement over what, precisely, counts as literature. This course considers these kinds of controversies by examining the purpose, meaning and ethics of literature in the present day and by exploring a rich range of methodologies for interpreting texts.
Offered
Offered spring.