Critical Approaches to Literature

• • What is Literature For? What is Literary Theory For?
  • Close Reading
  • Structuralism
  • Post-structuralism
  • Reader Response theory
  • Postcolonial theory
  • Feminist approaches
  • Queer theory
  • New Formalism
  • Narrative theory
  • Cognitive narratology
  • Emerging approaches

Equivalent subjects

You should not enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:

• MAQ-ENGX3050-Critical Approaches to Literature (No longer available)

You must have successfully completed the following subject(s) before starting this subject:

• MAQ-ENGX1001-Literature: Medieval to Modern
• MAQ-ENGX1002-Literature: Modern and Contemporary

Others

ENGX1001 or ENGX1002 or ENGX120; and 20cp in ENGX units at 2000 level or above

Additional requirements

• Other requirements -

  Students who have an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion under Macquarie University's Academic Progression Policy are not permitted to enrol in OUA units offered by Macquarie University. Students with an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion who have enrolled in units through OUA will be withdrawn.

This subject examines different critical approaches to analysing literature, including narratological, postcolonial, feminist, and cognitive. This range of perspectives will open up ways of considering what literature is, what kinds of knowledge it provides, and what is at stake — culturally, politically, aesthetically, and emotionally — in the way texts are understood and consumed. This subject will prepare students for research in literary studies by addressing questions concerning how we as scholars approach literary texts and the critical responses they have attracted; how we recognise and assess a literary approach; and what questions and access points we use to understand and critique literary texts. Practically, students will learn to identify, understand, and apply different questions and concepts to the interpretation of texts and to the creation of meaning.

• Participatory Task (20%)
• Academic Writing Task (30%)
• Major Project (50%)

For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).