Literary theory

How do you know whether you are interpreting a literary text the ‘right’ way? This question goes to key issues of approach, method and disciplinarity which are collectively known as literary theory. Different literary theories are like lenses through which you can read a text, with significant consequences for reader interpretation. By reading both theoretical and creative texts, you will come to understand theory by putting it into practice. You will analyse a range of poetry, fiction, drama, non-fiction, graphic narrative and born-digital texts. You can also create your own texts in response to unit theories. You will examine the early twentieth-century origins of English as an independent discipline and successive waves of theoretical innovation such Structuralism and Poststructuralism. You will consider how literature relates to socio-political frames of gender, race/ethnicity, class and sexuality. You will also probe where and how Literary Studies overlaps with other disciplines such as film, media and cultural studies. Finally, you will encounter debates at the cutting-edge of twenty-first-century literary theory. As a capstone unit in the Literary Studies major, ATS3189 guides you to explore wide-ranging issues about the institutionalisation of English, its boundaries and intellectual future. It is especially useful for intending secondary English/Literature teachers and those considering fourth-year Honours study.