Concepts in Literary Studies

Literary studies isn't just close reading, it's learning the conceptual vocabulary (representation, narrative, ideology, genre, subjectivity) that critics actually use to argue about what texts do and why. You'll move between primary texts and theoretical readings, write essays and a term paper, and sit two midterms designed to push you from summarizing critics to taking positions of your own. As a Year 1 spring requirement, it's the foundation that later ELIT seminars assume you already have, once you can name what you're doing when you read, every subsequent course gets sharper.