Here’s a clear and simple look at the MEG-05 course – Literary Criticism and Theory – Full Syllabus Overview, covering all major theories and ideas.
Literary Criticism and Theory – Full Syllabus Overview
Block-1 An Introduction
Unit 1: Literature, Criticism and Theory
This unit introduces you to the foundational concepts of literature, literary criticism, and theory. It explores how these terms differ and how they’ve evolved over time, setting the stage for deeper study throughout the course.
Unit 2: Overview of Western Critical Thought
Dive into the major movements and thinkers that have shaped Western literary criticism—from Classical Greece to the 20th century. This unit gives you a bird’s-eye view of critical traditions that still influence literary studies today.
Unit 3: Twentieth Century Developments
Explore the major shifts in literary theory during the 20th century. This unit discusses influential schools of thought such as Structuralism, Post-Structuralism, Psychoanalysis, and Reader-Response Theory.
Unit 4: The Function of Criticism
This unit focuses on the role and purpose of criticism in the literary world. It examines various critical approaches and the responsibilities of a critic in interpreting texts.
Unit 5: Indian Aesthetics
Shift your focus to Indian literary traditions with this unit, which explores concepts like Rasa, Dhvani, and Alankara. It highlights the richness of Indian aesthetic theory and its relevance in global literary discourse.
Unit 6: Resistance to Theory / How to Read a Reader
Conclude your journey with a look at the debates surrounding literary theory itself. This unit challenges the idea of fixed meanings in texts and explores how readers actively shape interpretation.
Block-2 Classical Criticism
Unit 1: Features of Classical Criticism
Begin your journey with an overview of what defines Classical Criticism. This unit outlines its main characteristics, key thinkers, and lasting impact on literary analysis.
Unit 2: Plato on Imitation and Art
Discover Plato’s ideas about literature, art, and imitation (mimesis). This unit examines his philosophical concerns about poetry and its role in society, especially through his famous dialogues like The Republic.
Unit 3: Aristotle’s Theory of Imitation
In contrast to Plato, Aristotle viewed imitation positively. This unit explores Aristotle’s defense of art and literature as natural and educational, providing a nuanced understanding of his critical thought.
Unit 4: Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy – I
Step into Aristotle’s Poetics with a focus on the key elements of tragedy—plot, character, diction, and more. This unit breaks down how tragedy functions and why it holds such power over audiences.
Unit 5: Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy – II
Building on the previous unit, this one dives deeper into concepts like catharsis, hamartia, and peripeteia, offering further insight into Aristotle’s theory of emotional purification through drama.
Unit 6: Criticism as Dialogue
This concluding unit presents criticism not as a fixed judgment, but as an ongoing dialogue between texts, readers, and thinkers. It emphasizes the evolving nature of literary interpretation across time.
Block-3 Romantic Criticism
Unit 1: Romanticism
Start with an introduction to the Romantic movement—its origins, key ideas, and its reaction against the rigid structures of Enlightenment thinking. This unit sets the stage by highlighting the importance of emotion, nature, and the individual spirit in literature.
Unit 2: Wordsworth – Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
This unit explores Wordsworth’s groundbreaking preface, often considered a manifesto of Romantic poetry. It discusses his ideas on poetic language, the role of the poet, and the value of everyday experiences in shaping poetic thought.
Unit 3: Coleridge – Biographia Literaria
Dive into Coleridge’s philosophical and poetic reflections in Biographia Literaria. This unit unpacks his theory of imagination, fancy, and his critique of Wordsworth, offering a more complex view of Romantic aesthetics.
Unit 4: P.B. Shelley – A Defence of Poetry
Conclude this section with Shelley’s passionate argument for the power and necessity of poetry. This unit presents his belief that poets are the “unacknowledged legislators of the world,” emphasizing poetry’s role in shaping society and human consciousness.
Block-4 New Criticism
Unit 1: I.A. Richards
Start with I.A. Richards, one of the pioneers of New Criticism. This unit explores his ideas on practical criticism, the importance of close reading, and how readers respond to literary texts.
Unit 2: T.S. Eliot
This unit examines Eliot’s influential essays like Tradition and the Individual Talent and The Metaphysical Poets. It highlights his belief in literary tradition, impersonality in art, and the importance of objective criticism.
Unit 3: F.R. Leavis
Discover F.R. Leavis’s rigorous moral and aesthetic standards for literature. This unit discusses his emphasis on literary excellence, seriousness, and his role in shaping English literary studies.
Unit 4: John Crowe Ransom and Cleanth Brooks
This unit introduces two major figures of American New Criticism. Learn how Ransom and Brooks championed close reading, and concepts like paradox and unity in poetry, which became central to this school of thought.
Unit 5: W.K. Wimsatt
Wimsatt is best known for coining the terms intentional fallacy and affective fallacy. This unit explores how he argued against evaluating literature based on the author’s intention or the reader’s emotional response.
Unit 6: Conclusion
Wrap up this section with a reflection on the key ideas of New Criticism. This unit summarizes its contributions to literary theory and discusses its strengths, limitations, and lasting impact on modern criticism.
Block-5 Marxist View of Literature
Unit 1: Marxism and Literature
Start your exploration with the basics of Marxist literary theory. This unit introduces the core ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, explaining how literature reflects, reinforces, or challenges social and economic realities.
Unit 2: Society and History – The Marxist View
This unit delves into the Marxist understanding of how literature is shaped by historical and societal forces. It highlights the role of class, power structures, and material conditions in shaping both texts and their interpretations.
Unit 3: Representing and Critiquing Society – Superstructures
Learn how literature functions as part of the cultural superstructure that supports or resists dominant ideologies. This unit explores the relationship between the economic base and cultural expressions in literature.
Unit 4: Commitment in Literature
What role does a writer play in society? This unit addresses the concept of literary commitment—how authors respond to injustice, take sides in social conflicts, and use their art as a tool for transformation.
Unit 5: Autonomy in Literature
This unit explores the tension between art and politics. Can literature be truly autonomous? It raises important questions about whether art should serve social goals or exist for its own sake.
Unit 6: Literature and Ideology
Conclude this section by examining how literature both reflects and constructs ideology. This unit helps you understand how texts carry, challenge, or reinforce dominant worldviews, even when they seem neutral or purely artistic.
Block-6 Feminist Theories
Unit 1: Features of Feminist Criticism
Begin with an overview of what defines feminist criticism. This unit explains its core ideas, key questions it raises about gender and literature, and how it has evolved over time to challenge patriarchal norms.
Unit 2: Mary Wollstonecraft – A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Explore the pioneering work of Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the earliest advocates for women’s education and equality. This unit discusses how her ideas laid the foundation for feminist thought in both politics and literature.
Unit 3: Virginia Woolf – A Room of One’s Own
Step into the world of Virginia Woolf as she argues for the importance of financial independence and personal space for women writers. This unit brings out her reflections on gender, creativity, and the literary tradition.
Unit 4: Simone de Beauvoir – The Second Sex
This unit dives into de Beauvoir’s groundbreaking feminist philosophy, especially her famous claim, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” Learn how she critiqued the cultural construction of womanhood.
Unit 5: Elaine Showalter – Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness
Get to know Elaine Showalter’s distinction between feminist critique and gynocriticism. This unit highlights her contribution to shaping feminist literary theory and carving out space for women’s writing as a unique tradition.
Unit 6: Feminist Concerns in India Today
Wrap up this section with a focus on the Indian context. This unit discusses how feminist issues play out in contemporary India, including challenges, progress, and the voices of Indian women in literature and society.
Block-7 Deconstruction
Unit 1: Roots – New Criticism and Structuralism
Begin your journey into deconstruction by understanding where it all started. This unit lays the foundation by explaining how New Criticism and Structuralism paved the way for deconstructive thought.
Unit 2: Beginning Deconstruction
Here’s where the real action begins! This unit introduces the key ideas of deconstruction—especially those by Jacques Derrida—challenging the belief in fixed meanings and binary oppositions in language and literature.
Unit 3: Implications
Explore what deconstruction means for how we read and interpret texts. This unit highlights how it shifts our understanding of literature, language, and meaning itself—offering a more fluid and open-ended approach to criticism.
Unit 4: Deconstructing Poetry
Dive into poetic texts through a deconstructive lens. This unit shows how poetry, with its rich layers of meaning, becomes the perfect ground for revealing hidden contradictions and ambiguities.
Unit 5: Deconstructing Drama
This unit applies deconstructive strategies to dramatic texts, showing how characters, plots, and dialogues can unravel the very structures they seem to affirm.
Unit 6: Re-Assessing Deconstruction
Wrap up this section with a critical look at deconstruction itself—its influence, criticisms, and how it continues to shape literary theory today.
Block-8 Contemporary Literary theory
Unit 1: Some Basic Issues
Begin by exploring the foundational questions that modern literary theory tries to answer. This unit sets the stage by addressing key themes, debates, and the shift from traditional to contemporary criticism.
Unit 2: Postmodernism – The Basics
This unit breaks down the complex ideas of postmodernism into easy-to-understand concepts. You’ll explore its impact on literature, language, identity, and the very nature of meaning.
Unit 3: Psychoanalysis – Freud and Lacan
Dive into the psychological side of literary theory. This unit explores how Freud’s and Lacan’s ideas help uncover the hidden desires, fears, and unconscious elements within texts and characters.
Unit 4: Postcolonial Theory – Said, Spivak, and Bhabha
This unit takes you through the works of Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, and Homi Bhabha—key thinkers in postcolonial studies. Learn how literature has been used to resist colonial narratives and represent the voices of the oppressed.
Unit 5: Beginnings of Cultural Studies and New Historicism
Here, you’ll explore how literature interacts with culture, politics, and history. This unit introduces the rise of Cultural Studies and New Historicism as methods to read texts in their broader socio-cultural contexts.
Unit 6: Literary Criticism and Theory – A Summing Up
Conclude your journey through literary theory by tying everything together. This unit offers a comprehensive recap and reflects on how the various theories shape our understanding of literature and the world around us.
Conclusion
MEG-05: Literary Criticism and Theory takes us through many different ways of understanding literature. From classical thinkers like Plato and Aristotle to modern ideas like feminism, Marxism, and postcolonialism, each unit helps us see literature in a new light.
We learn how stories reflect society, culture, and human emotions. The course also shows us that meanings in literature are not fixed—they can change based on how we read them.
In the end, this subject teaches us to think deeply, ask questions, and enjoy literature in a more meaningful way.