Overview

This course in contemporary literary theory introduces some of the principal methods of current criticism, ranging from deconstruction to psychoanalysis, from performance theory to gender and cultural studies. Critical works will be placed in the context of postmodern culture, hypertext theory, and cyberspace. Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner and Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl, a hypertext reworking of the Frankenstein story, will serve as reference points for the exploration of theoretical issues.

Readings will include representative works by Louis Althusser, Lauren Berlant, Roland Barthes, Judith Butler, Helene Cixous, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Paul Gilroy, Donna Haraway, Fredric Jameson, Jacques Lacan, Ferdinand de Saussure, Patricia Williams, Slavoj Zizek, and others.