Introduction to Theory of Literature

Introduction to Theory of Literature is Paul Fry's Spring 2009 course ENGL 300, published on Open Yale Courses as 26 lectures of about 50 minutes. It surveys the main movements in twentieth-century literary theory in roughly chronological order: the hermeneutic circle, the idea of the autonomous artwork, the New Criticism and Russian formalism, semiotics and structuralism, two lectures on deconstruction, Freud, Lacan and influence, reader-response, the Frankfurt School, the political unconscious and the New Historicism, then feminist, African-American, post-colonial and queer criticism, before closing with neo-pragmatism and the question of whether theory has ended. Readings come from a single anthology named on the syllabus.

Each lecture is offered as streaming or downloadable video, audio and a searchable transcript; the papers and exam described in the syllabus are not graded for online viewers. Open Yale Courses is free without registration and awards no certificate or credit. Fry's book based on the lectures is optional.