critical approaches to a global major

Structuralism notes

• started in France, basically means you cannot study things in isolation

• has its roots with Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, a key figure in the development of modern approaches to language study

• Saussure concentrated on the patterns and function of language in use today instead of deciphering the origin of language with an emp

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The turn to ‘theory’ notes

• growth of critical theory comprises a series of ‘waves’ from specific decades

• two older, but still unassimilated new approaches to theory such as Marxist criticism and psychoanalytic theory (pioneered in 1930s then reborn in the 1960s)

• two new approaches emerged from these such as linguistic and feminist criticism

• in the 19

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Ten tenets of liberal humanism

1. Good literature is timeless! It speaks to what is constant in human nature.

2. The literary text contains its own meaning - it does not need any further context or explanation (ex. socio-political, literary-historical, autobiographical).

3. To understand the text well, it must be removed from any context and studied in isolat

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Theory before ‘theory’ notes

The origin of the English major? Many factors, but mostly, it was a way to serve the middle-class/give them an advantage without redistribution of wealth and maintaining the political status quo.

Beginning theory notes

Seen as a replacement for religion, English became the substitute as a way to moralize the lower classes

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