This course provides an introduction to the modes of critical analysis that revolutionized the study of literature and culture in the twentieth century. The interpretative methods we will examine include formalism, historicism, feminism, and poststructuralism. In the final weeks of the class, we will turn our attention to several contemporary and emerging theoretical paradigms. Some of the readings for this class will be exceptionally challenging. But the payoff is a richer set of categories with which to interpret literature, culture, and life. Spring (Group III)