If "Literary Criticism" sounds a bit dry to you, don't be fooled. This class is about why we read, how we read, and what we read when we read literature. If you have had your fill of courses that jam the maximum number of novels, poems, and plays into your aching head, and then test you on plot and vocabulary, I can assure you that this will be a class that asks you reflect on point of it all at a more leisurely pace.

The class will first examine the history of how literature has been defined and understood from the ancient Greeks to the Twentieth Century. Next, we will give close attention to contemporary trends in literary study, those mysterious movements or schools you may have been hearing about, such as "Deconstruction," "New Historicism," "Feminist Criticism," and so on. Finally, we will apply what we have been studying to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, a text that lends itself especially well to a wide variety of critical approaches.

The grade will be based on quizzes, a midterm and final, a short paper (3-4 pages) , and a term paper (7-10 pages).

Required texts: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (Norton)

Kaplan (ed.), Criticism: the Major Statements (St. Martin's)

Barry, Beginning Theory (Manchester/St. Martin's)