Welcome to the Course!

Welcome to the Fall 2024 version of the 'Frankenstein' course, Intro to Literary Theory and Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools! This was originally two different classes (and will be again next year), but necessity has urged us to combine two courses that actually have a lot in common. To this end, the class will focus both on the interpretation of literature through theory and close reading, AND the art of teaching and guiding new readers through some very rewarding (and often complex) works of art. But regardless of which class you're enrolled in, we'll use various theoretical means of helping us view literature from multiple perspectives, whether those are personal, cultural, historical, or political. As Culler explains in his book,  “to admit the importance of theory is to make an open-ended commitment, to leave yourself in a position where there re always important things you don’t know” (16).  So much of this class will be drawing a line between what we kniow and what we can't know, so we can decide how best to bridge the gap with inquiry and speculation. In short, we'll read closely, discuss heatedly, and draw our own conclusions!

Make sure to buy the 5 books for the class, from Culler's Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (our first book), to Beowulf, The Hobbit, Dracula, and Coraline. I'll explain why I chose these works of literature (which fall into two distinct pairings) in the early weeks of class. 

The posts below this one are from last year's class, and though we read different works and had very different assignments, feel free to scroll through them for a sneak preview of some of what we 'could' theoretically study this semester (but won't). See you on Tuesday!