Contemporary Literary Theories introduces students to selected major approaches to literary interpretation and to the intellectual, philosophical, cultural, and historical contexts in which they developed. Rather than presenting literary theory as an abstract catalogue of schools and terminology, the course is organized around a series of interpretive problems: how texts produce meaning, how form and language shape interpretation, how readers participate in meaning-making, and how literature relates to subjectivity, ideology, gender, power, and history.
Lectures use literary texts, visual art, film, and other cultural materials to demonstrate different theoretical perspectives in practice. The seminars then transfer these perspectives to a sustained reading of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” which serves as the common interpretive laboratory throughout the semester. An early unit is also devoted to the responsible and academically permissible use of generative AI in literary studies. The emphasis throughout is on close reading, discussion, critical comparison, and the practical application of theoretical concepts.
- Prowadzący: Jędrzejko Paweł