MSt Theory Reading List
Session 1:
The Notion of Literature
Session 2:
Authors and Readers
Session 3:
Psychoanalysis
Session 4:
Deconstruction
There are two excellent Readers in which you will find much of the material you will
need
 Modern Criticism and Theory, 2nd ed., Lodge and Wood eds., Longman, 2000

Literary Theory: An Anthology, Rivkin and Ryan eds., Blackwell, 2nd edition,
2004
Do try to read as much as you can before the start of term. You will be expected to
prepare for every seminar by reading the core texts; you are also required to produce
at least one (15 minute max.) class presentation, in which you should not only
summarise the core argument of the texts, but also explain what is at stake in them.
For the 5000-word essay that you submit for the MSt/MPhil examination, you must
choose a different topic from the seminar presentation. You will be asked to submit a
short statement (title, approach and reading list) for the essay by 5th week of Hilary
Term. The last class will be in 7th week to allow you good time to write up.
NOTE: The weekly Lecture series on Theory will continue in Hilary Term.
SESSION 1: THE NOTION OF LITERATURE
Core Reading:
ARISTOTLE, Poetics I and IV. Russell and Winterbottom (eds.), Classical Literary
Criticism (1989); (eds.) Murray and Dorsch, Classical Literary Criticism
(2000)
Roman JAKOBSON, ‘Linguistics and Poetics’, David Lodge (ed.), Modern Criticism
and Theory: A Reader (2000)
Roland BARTHES, Leçon (1978), translated as Inaugural Lecture in Susan Sontag
(ed.) Barthes: Selected Writings (1982)
Jean-Paul SARTRE, What is Literature? (original 1948), Chapters 1 (‘What is
writing?’) and 2 (‘Why write?)
Jacques DERRIDA, ‘This Strange Institution Called Literature’, Derek Attridge (ed.),
Acts of Literature (1991)
Further Reading:
PLATO, Extracts from The Republic, in Russell and Winterbottom (eds.), Classical
Literary Criticism (1989); (eds.) Murray and Dorsch, Classical Literary
Criticism (2000)
HORACE, The Art of Poetry (eds.) Also available in the above volumes.
Derek ATTRIDGE, The Singularity of Literature (Routledge 2004)
Terry EAGLETON, ‘Introduction: What is Literature?’, Literary Theory: An
Introduction (1983)
Gerard GENETTE, Fiction and Diction (original 1991)
Nicholas HARRISON (ed.), The Idea of the Literary, Paragraph 28.2 (2005)
Raymond WILLIAMS, ‘Literature’, Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society
(1976)
SESSION 2: AUTHORS AND READERS
Core Reading:
Roland BARTHES, ‘The Death of the Author’, (Lodge Reader)
Michel FOUCAULT, ‘What is an Author’ (Lodge Reader)
Roland BARTHES, Le plaisir du texte (1973), trs. The Pleasure of the
Text, S. Sontag (ed.) Barthes: Selected Writings (1982) contains an extract
Wolfgang ISER, ‘The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach’ (Lodge
Reader)
Stanley FISH, ‘Is there a text in this class?’ in Is There a Text in this Class? (1980)
Further Reading:
Roland BARTHES, S/Z (1970)
Seán BURKE (ed.), Authorship: From Plato to the Postmodern: A Reader (1995)
[contains essays by Wimsatt, Hirsch, Barthes, Foucault, and Borges] and The
Death and Return of the Author: Criticism and Subjectivity in Barthes,
Foucault and Derrida (1992)
Jonathan Culler, ‘Readers and Reading’, On Deconstruction (1983)
Jane TOMPKINS (ed.), Reader-Response Criticism (1980) [contains essays by
Riffaterre, Poulet, Iser, Culler, Holland and Bleich, plus a good introduction]
Robert HOLUB, Reception Theory (1984)
Stanley FISH, ‘Why no one’s afraid of Wolfgang Iser’, in Is There a Text in this
Class? (1980)
SESSION 3: PSYCHOANALYSIS
Core Reading:
FREUD, Art and Literature, Pelican Freud Library, vol. 14, especially:
 ‘Jensen’s Gradiva’
 The Interpretation of Dreams (Rivkin and Ryan Reader)
 ‘The Uncanny’ (Rivkin and Ryan)
LACAN, Jacques
 « L’instance de la lettre dans l’inconscient », Écrits (1966); trs. ‘The insistence
of the letter in the unconscious’ (Lodge Reader; Rivkin & Ryan Reader)

« Le stade du miroir comme formateur de la fonction du Je », Écrits; trs. ‘The
Mirror Stage,’ (Rivkin & Ryan Reader)

« Le séminaire sur ‘La lettre volée’ », Écrits (1966); trs. ‘The Purloined
Letter’, Yale French Studies, 48, 1972
Peter BROOKS, ‘Freud’s Masterplot: A Model for Narrative’, Reading for the Plot:
Design and Intention in Narrative (1984)
Further Reading:
Maud ELLMANN (ed.), Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism (1994)
Shoshana FELMAN, ‘The Case of Poe: Applications/ Implications of
Psychoanalysis’, Jacques Lacan and the Adventure of Insight (1987)
LAPLANCHE and PONTALIS, Vocabulaire de la psychanalyse (1967); trs. The
Language of Psychoanalysis (1973)
Elizabeth WRIGHT, Psychoanalytic Criticism (1984, 2nd ed. 1998), and ‘Modern
Psychoanalytic Criticism’, Modern Literary Theory (eds. Jefferson and Robey)
Slavoj ZIZEK, ‘Two Ways to Avoid the Real of Desire,’ Looking Awry. An
Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture (1992)
SESSION 4: DECONSTRUCTION
Core Reading:
Jacques DERRIDA
 « Signature événement contexte», Marges de la philosophie (1972)
trs. ‘Signature Event Context’, Margins of Philosophy

« Ce dangereux supplément», De la grammatologie (1967)
trs. ‘That Dangerous Supplement’, Of Grammatology (**Rivkin & Ryan
Reader, 2002 Revised ed. only)

« La structure, le signe et le jeu dans les sciences humaines », L’écriture et
la différence (1967)
trs. ‘Structure, sign and play in the discourse of the human sciences’ (Lodge
Reader)

« La différance », Marges de la philosophie, trs. ‘Différance’ (1960) (Rivkin
& Ryan Reader)
Paul DE MAN, ‘The Resistance to Theory’ (Lodge Reader)
Further Reading:
Jonathan CULLER, On Deconstruction (1983)
J. DERRIDA, ‘La mythologie blanche’, in Marges (1972), trs. ‘White mythology’,
Margins and Positions (1972), trs. Positions
P. DE MAN, Allegories of Reading (1979)
Christina HOWELLS, Derrida: Deconstruction from Phenomenology to Ethics
(1998)
Nicholas ROYLE, Jacques Derrida (2003)
Barbara JOHNSON, ‘Frames of Reference: Poe, Lacan, Derrida,’ in The Critical
Difference (1980)
Christopher NORRIS, Deconstruction: Theory and Practice (1982) and Derrida
(1987)