INTRODUCTION TO THEORY AND CRITICISM
T-Th: 3:30 – 5:20, SIG 226
Instructor: Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen
Office hours: Remote, by appointment
Email: mbj@uw.edu
Description: This course offers a survey of some of the major texts in the history of critical theory in the West. No prior knowledge of theory is required but be prepared to read challenging texts at a fast pace. Each session focuses on one important author or theme relevant to the study of literature and the arts. We will start with the Ancients (Plato, Aristotle, Longinus), meander through French 17th century critics, 18thcentury theories of genius, taste and the sublime, Romantic irony, and tackle the great modern philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche. Emphasis will be placed toward the end on 20th century structuralism and post-structuralism: Saussure, Jakobson, Barthes, Derrida.
Readings: Excerpts from Hazard Adams, ed., Critical Theory Since Plato (in course pack available at UW Book Store)
Assignments: One in-class midterm exam and one in-class final.
Schedule of meetings and readings:
T Jan 10: General introduction -- Enthusiasm: Plato, Ion
Th Jan 12: Mimesis: Plato, Republic
T Jan 17: Mimesis and Catharsis: Aristotle
Th Jan 19: Rules: Aristotle, Classicism
T Jan 24: The Sublime: Longinus
Th Jan 26: Genius: Young
T Jan 31: Aesthetics: Burke
Th Feb 2: Aesthetics: Kant
T Feb 7: General review
Th Feb 9: Mid-term exam
T Feb 14: Irony: Schlegel
Th Feb 16: Dialectic: Hegel
T Feb 21: Apollonian/Dionysiac: Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy
Th Feb 23: The Unconscious: Freud, Jung
T Feb 28: Structure, Sign, Text: Saussure, Jakobson
Th Mar 2: Structure, Sign, Text: Barthes, Derrida.
T Mar 7: General review
Th Mar 9: Final exam