Ruth M. McAdams
Sample Syllabus
INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM
Course Description and Explanation
Why do we read? What should we read? How should we read? What does reading have to do
with living? These questions have challenged thinkers since the days of Plato and Aristotle and
continue to prompt diverse responses and animate lively debate in the twenty-first century. The
study of literary theory is thus an ideal opportunity for students to encounter conflicting viewpoints,
work to understand the stakes of complex arguments, and, ultimately, train themselves to contribute
to these ongoing debates.
In this course, students will tackle the major works of literary theory and criticism from
antiquity to the present day. Assignments will build on each other, allowing students to engage with
these texts in ways that increase in complexity. To begin with, students will practice identifying,
articulating, and paraphrasing arguments in theoretical texts. They will analyze how these arguments
speak to each other—both when a later writer challenges an earlier one, and when one writer’s
(mis)interpretation of another leads to new ideas. Over the course of the semester, students will
identify points of disagreement among these texts, and finally, they will participate in ongoing
debates. The final assignment will ask students to make their own intervention in a theoretical
discussion by writing a research paper that builds on the arguments of the theorists that we have
read, but also advances its own ideas.
Just as literary theorists have participated in an intellectual community defined by
collaboration and debate, this course will use online tools to build students’ sense of working
together on a shared endeavor. Required weekly posts on the (private) class blog will provide
students with an informal, low-stakes context in which to work through complicated ideas, discuss
connections between the course content and pop-cultural trends, and practice some of the
argumentation skills they will use on formal writing assignments. In addition, drafts of formal papers
will be workshopped by students’ peers using Google Drive, allowing students to help each other to
produce complex, analytic, and well-supported arguments that matter to the classroom community.
Sharing drafts in advance will encourage students to develop a sense of audience for their writing.
The online component will not only provide an outlet for students who are more reticent in class
discussions, but will help students practice intellectual communication in an online setting, a valuable
and elusive skill in the twenty-first century.
Designed for a group of no more than twenty-five new majors, this course will prepare
students for the English major in that it will provide an overview of the varying ways that literature
has been understood over time—from debates over canonicity, to theories about reading, to the
disputes about relationship between literature and politics. These arguments will not only help
students develop their own ideas about literature and reading and their relationship to life, but will
also enhance students’ engagement with literary scholarship, much of which is inspired by these
theoretical arguments. For students from other fields, also, this course will provide an opportunity
to develop their skills of communication and argumentation. By giving students a chance to practice
negotiating between different kinds of arguments and to make interventions into ongoing debates,
the course will train students to see themselves as active contributors to an intellectual community.
As students work from summarizing and paraphrasing theoretical arguments, to understanding how
they respond to each other, to making contributions to the debate, students will learn to take an
active role in knowledge production.
Learning Goals
1) To practice identifying, articulating, and paraphrasing complex arguments in theoretical texts
2) To analyze how these arguments cite and respond to each other, and to identify points of
disagreement and dispute
3) To take an active role in knowledge production by intervening in ongoing theoretical
discussions
4) To work with peers to develop new insights through collaboration and debate
5) To produce complex, analytic, well-supported arguments that matter to the classroom
community
6) To practice intellectual communication in an online setting
7) To appreciate how the understanding of literature has been shaped by historical change,
social conditions, and theoretical debates over time
Course Requirements and Grade Breakdown
Essay 1
Essay 2
Essay 3
Essay 4
Essay 5
Essay 6
Blog Posts
Workshop Contributions
In-Class Participation
5%
5%
10%
10%
15%
25%
10%
10%
10%
Text Book
All readings will be taken from the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Students may use
either edition, but the page numbers below reflect the first edition.
ISBN #: (1st edition) 978-0393974294
ISBN #: (2nd edition) 978-0393932928
COURSE POLICIES (DRAFT)
Attendance.
Absences detract from the classroom community. For that reason, I reserve the right to reduce your
final grade by one-third of a letter for each absence more than three. Further, any student who
misses five classes may fail the course. Please contact me well in advance if you know that you will
miss. Excessive tardiness will negatively affect your grade as well.
Use of Technology.
No cell phones or small gadgets may be used in the classroom. You may bring a laptop or tablet for
note-taking so long as you are able to focus on the class; I reserve the right to ban laptops and
tablets at any point if necessary.
Late Work Policy.
1) Late blog posts will not be accepted for credit.
2) Late essays are strongly discouraged and will be penalized as follows: you will lose 1/3 of
a letter grade for each day the essay is late.
3) Please speak to me (ideally well in advance) if you encounter a major problem completing your
work on time. Occasionally, serious life circumstances get in the way of academic work; if that
happens, please see me to develop a plan to complete the course requirements.
Plagiarism Policy.
The academic community depends for its functioning on the free and open exchange of ideas
among people. Plagiarism is a form of fraud: it is the taking of ideas or language from another
person for one’s own use without proper documentation. What constitutes plagiarism can
sometimes be murky, and we will discuss in class how to avoid it by documenting sources properly.
If you plagiarize, you will fail the assignment and the course, and I will forward your case to the
appropriate Dean.
Accessibility Statement.
I am committed to the principle of universal learning, meaning that our classroom, virtual spaces,
practices, and interactions should be as inclusive as possible. Any student with particular needs
should contact the Academic Access and Disability Resources Coordinator at the start of the
semester. Then, please contact me and we will work out the details of any accommodations needed
for this course in order to ensure the best learning experience for you.
Contacting me.
1) Please visit during my office hours to discuss any concerns you have about the course and your
work. If you are unavailable during my office hours, email me and we can set up an alternate time to
meet.
2) I check email frequently but not all the time, so please leave sufficient lead-time if your question is
about an assignment that is due soon.
3) I prefer to discuss graded work in person, rather than over email and recommend that you wait 48
hours after receiving a grade before you contact me to arrange a meeting.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENTS
Essays 1 & 2. Summary Assignment.
Write a one-page summary of the day’s assigned text. Using at most one direct quotation,
paraphrase the writer’s argument in your own words. Do not evaluate the argument or
express your opinion about it; simply relate its key points as best you can.
You must write these essays during the first two weeks of class. The assignment is due at
class time on the two days you select.
Essays 3 & 4. Argument Genealogy.
Write a three-page essay that describes how the day’s assigned text is indebted to one or
more texts that we have read in the past. Discuss how the text’s argument picks up on
elements of the earlier text, and where it departs from what we have read.
You must these essays during weeks 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the class. The assignment is due at class
time on the two days you select.
Essay 5. Critique.
Write a five-page essay that critiques the argument presented in the day’s assigned text. Your
essay must demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the text’s argument and should
accurately represent its claims. At the same time, your essay should advance an argument of
its own about what the author may have gotten wrong.
Due at class time during week 7, 8, or 9.
Essay 6. Intervention in a Debate.
Write an 8-page essay that makes an intervention in an ongoing debate about a topic
featured in the texts we have read for this class. Your essay must focus on a specific topic
that appears in three or more texts. Your essay must demonstrate a sophisticated
understanding of the texts you discuss, both their individual arguments and the way that they
are in dialogue with each other. But the primary purpose of the essay will be to advance your
own claims about your chosen topic.
Due any time before the end of the semester.
Blog Posts.
Posts on the (private) class blog will provide students with an informal, low-stakes context in
which to work through complicated ideas, discuss connections between the course content
and pop-cultural trends, and practice some of the argumentation skills they will use on
formal writing assignments.
Two postings will be required per week, sometimes in response to specific questions, and
other times in response to content posted by your classmates. These will be graded on a
scale of check-minus, check, and check-plus.
Workshop Contributions.
This course has been designed to provide students opportunities outside of class to help
each other improve their writing and to gain new knowledge through collaboration and
debate. Students will be assigned small writing groups that will change once in the middle of
the semester. Students will share drafts of written work with their groups though Google
Drive, and group members will be required to provide constructive written feedback on
drafts, following the guidelines in the workshop talking points (see below). Exact deadlines
TBA.
In-Class Participation.
Your daily preparation for and participation in class activities are integral to your success in
this course. The structure of the course has been designed so that students take an active
role in their own and their classmates’ learning. Consequently, a good participant will not
merely speak in class; they will make contributions that respond to the discussion and help
to build the group’s collective understanding of the text or issue that concerns us. Good
participation depends not only on quantity but also quality.
Active and sincere participation creates the challenging but safe learning environment that is
necessary for a successful class. For this reason, comments that are rude or disrespectful to
others will not be tolerated. Please make sure that when you challenge each other
intellectually, you are respectful and appropriate.
COURSE CALENDAR
*Page numbers come from the NATC first edition
Week 1:
Plato, from The Republic (49-64)
Aristotle, Poetics (86-117)
Week 2:
David Hume, “On the Standard of Taste” (483-499)
Immanuel Kant, from The Critique of Judgment (499-535)
Week 3:
G. W. F. Hegel, from The Phenomenology of Spirit and Aesthetic Lectures (626-644)
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, from Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844,
from The German Ideology, from The Communist Manifesto, from Grundrisse, from
Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (759-775)
Week 4:
Matthew Arnold, “The Function of Criticism at the Present Time” (802-825)
Friedrich Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lying” and from The Birth of Tragedy (870-895)
Week 5:
Sigmund Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams, “The Uncanny” (913-952)
Ferdinand de Saussure, from Course in General Linguistics (956-976)
Week 6:
T. S. Eliot, “Tradition and the Individual Talent” (1088-1098)
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (11631185)
~Writing Groups Change~
Week 7:
Max Horkheimer & Theodor Adorno, from The Culture Industry (1220-1240)
William K. Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley, “The Intentional Fallacy” & “The
Affective Fallacy” (1371-1403)
Week 8:
Claude Lévi-Strauss, from Tristes Tropiques (1415-1427)
Roland Barthes, “The Death of the Author” and “From Work to Text” (1466-1475)
Week 9:
Jacques Derrida, from Of Grammatology, from Dissemination (1815-1876)
Week 10:
Louis Althusser, from Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (1483-1508)
Michel Foucault, “What is an Author?”, from The History of Sexuality (1615-1636,
1648-1666)
Week 11:
Jacques Lacan, “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed
in Psychoanalytic Experience” (1278-1290)
Frantz Fanon, from The Wretched of the Earth (1575-1592)
Week 12:
Edward Said, from Orientalism (1986-2011)
Sandra M. Gilbert & Susan Gubar, from The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer
and the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination (2021-2035)
Week 13:
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, from A Critique of Postcolonial Reason (2193-2208)
Judith Butler, from Gender Trouble (2485-2501)
Week 14:
Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist
Feminism in the 1980s” (2266-2299)
bell hooks, “Postmodern Blackness” (2475-2484)
GRADING RUBRIC AND WORKSHOP TALKING POINTS
(Adapted from Natalie Bakopoulos)
When I grade your essays, I will consider the following topics, which I list here in decreasing order
of importance. Use these topics also to frame your feedback on your peers’ drafts. (Hint: you want
the answer to be “Yes” to each of these questions!)
Thesis/Argument
Is there a clear thesis? Is it specific? Is it original? Is it debatable?
Does the argument demonstrate genuine insight? Does it give the reader a new way of seeing?
Is the larger significance of the essay apparent? Does the essay communicate why its argument
matters?
Evidence
Does the essay support all claims with adequate evidence?
Does the essay properly cite and thoroughly analyze that evidence?
Does the essay address relevant counterarguments and anticipate possible resistance from the
audience?
Structure and Development
Does the introduction present the topic in a compelling way? Does the conclusion add something to
the essay?
Does the essay build and develop as it goes along, arranging ideas in a meaningful order and paying
attention to transitions?
Do the topic sentences propel the essay in a clear direction?
Style
Is the essay clear and concise?
Is the tone appropriate to our academic context?
Does the command of language and grammar further the argument rather than impede
comprehension?