CURSO : CONTEMPORARY LITERARY THEORY
SIGLA : LET1744
CRÉDITOS : 10
MÓDULOS : 02
REQUISITOS : LET1743
CARÁCTER : MINIMUM
I. DESCRIPTION
The aim of this course is to introduce the most influential trends in contemporary literary theory through a
selection of writings that appeared mostly after 1960. In dealing with theory, we will discuss a number of
concepts which we usually take for granted, such as "culture", "literature", "author", "reader", "text",
"discourse", "narrative", "power", "gender", etc.
II. OBJECTIVES
1. Comprehension of fundamental concepts from each theoretical text.
2. Critically approach the theoretical positions presented in texts.
3. Interpretation of fictional texts using theoretical tools.
4. Appropriation of theoretical tools through discussion, writing and presentations.
III. CONTENTS
1. Structuralism and Semiotics.
2. Reader Response.
3. Post-Structuralism.
4. Feminist Theory and Gender Studies.
5. Post-Colonialism and Post-Modernism.
6. Cultural Studies and Subaltern Studies.
IV. METHODOLOGY
- Analyze and discuss the selection of readings listed above, contextualize them, identify the tools and
premises that support each theory, and examining their critical approaches to literary works.
- Class discussion, class work, presentation of films and close reading will all have an essential role.
- Students will prepare a presentation based on a theoretical text that is not included in the class
syllabus.
V. EVALUATION
- Pop quizzes.
- In class work.
- One presentation.
- 2 short papers.
- 1 Midterm.
- 1 Final.
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PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE
FACULTAD DE LETRAS / Enero 2008
VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anzaldua, Gloria "From Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza." The Norton
Anthology: Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent Leitch and William
Cain. NY: Longman, 1998. 2211-2223.
Barthes, Roland "From Work to Text." The Norton Anthology:Theory and
Criticism. Ed. Vincent Leitch and William Cain. NY: Longman,
1998. 1470-1475
Barthes, Roland "Selection from Mythologies." The Norton Anthology: Theory and
Criticism. Ed. Vincent Leitch and William Cain. NY: Longman,
1998. 1461-1465.
Bhabha, Homi "Of Mimicry and Man." The Location of Culture. Ed. Homi
Bhabha. New York: Routledge, 2004. 121-131.
Cixous, Helene "The Laugh of Medusa." The Norton Anthology: Theory and
Criticism. Ed. Vincent Leitch and William Cain. NY: Longman,
1998. 2039-2056.
Clifford, James "The Translation of Cultures." Contemporary Literary Criticism:
Literary and Cultural Studies. Ed. Roberto con Davis and Ronald
Schleifer. Oklahoma: Longman, 1998.679-694.
Foucault, Michel "What is an Author?" Contemporary Literary Criticism: Literary
and Cultural Studies. Ed. Roberto con Davis and Ronald Schleifer.
Oklahoma: Longman, 1998. 365-376.
Foucault, Michel "Las Meninas." The Order of Things: An Archeology of the Human
Sciences. Ed. Michel Foucault. New York: Vintage Books Edition,
1994. 3-16.
Genette, Gerard "Frontiers of Narrative." Figures of Literary Discourse. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1982.
Jameson, Fredric "Postmodernism and Consumer Society." The Norton Anthology:
Theory and Criticism. Ed.Vincent Leitch and William Cain. NY:
Longman, 1998. 1960-1974.
Levi-Strauss, Claude "The Structural Study of Myth." Structural Anthropology. New
York : Doubleday & Company, 1967. 202-228.
Said, Edward "From Orientalism." The Norton Anthology: Theory and Criticism.
Ed. Vincent Leitch and William Cain. NY: Longman, 1998. 1991-
2012.
Saussure, Ferdinand "From the Course in General Linguistics: The Object of
Linguistics." Contemporary Literary Criticism: Literary and
Cultural Studies. Ed. Roberto con Davis and Ronald Schleifer.
Oklahoma: Longman, 1998. 266-279.
Schweickart, Patrocinio "Reading Ourselves: Toward a Feminist Theory of Reading."
Contemporary Literary Criticism: Literary and Cultural Studies.
Ed. Roberto con Davis and Ronald Schleifer. Oklahoma: Longman,
1998. 197-220.
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PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE
FACULTAD DE LETRAS / Enero 2008
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty "Can the Subaltern Speak?" Marxism and the Interpretation of
Culture. Ed. Carl Nelson. Chicago: UP Ilinois, 1988. 113-155.
Woolf, Virginia "A Room of One's Own." The Norton Anthology: Theory and
Criticism. Ed. Vincent Leitch and William Cain. NY: Longman,
1998. 1021-1029.
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PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE
FACULTAD DE LETRAS / Enero 2008
