PhD Seminar: What is Theory For?

This seminar offers a representative survey of the major schools of literary theory. We will explore the questions raised by theory about the interpretation of novels, short stories, graphic novels, TV shows, and films. The goal is to actively cultivate useful tools and tactics for academic work, such as how to mobilize evidence and how to ask research questions that matter to you. A secondary goal is to study and critique the discipline's norms so that each of us as scholar-teachers might develop individualized forward-looking strategies for flourishing in a PhD program. In addition to assigned readings, students will need to keep up with new work in public criticism venues, such as The New Yorker, n+1, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.