Even if you haven’t studied literary theory before, you will probably have asked yourself the kind of questions it provokes. How do we make sense of what we read? How do we know if we’re reading a text in the way the author intended? Should we base our readings in the context of an author’s life or our own? What if a text contains language or ideas which were acceptable at the time of publication but now seem obscure or even offensive?
This course invites students to explore key debates in modern literary theory, ranging widely around ideas about authorship, readership and interpretation. We will not attempt to cover every “–ism” in a complex field, but, by basing our discussions on selected chapters in Bennett and Royle’s An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, the course aims to develop your interest in literary and theoretical ideas and to introduce you to different ways of reading the literature you will encounter on other courses.
To provide us with a shared text we will use Joseph Conrad’s short story ‘The Secret Sharer’ (1910) as our class text, to test out how the ideas we discuss aid (or hinder) us in our analysis. Each class will begin with a short informal lecture to introduce the theme of the session, then we will discuss the readings from Bennett and Royle and test out the ideas in them against our readings of ‘The Secret Sharer’. Students will be encouraged to debate the theories and approaches encountered with reference to their wider reading and literary study in other classes.
What our students say
"Dr Bavidge's balance between delivery of new material and opportunities for the students to speak was fantastic. Her knowledge was vast and her presence was strong throughout the class."
