Contemporary literary theories

1. Name of the course: Contemporary literary theories

2. Purpose of the course:

a. to provide students with knowledge of crucial contemporary literary theories

b. to acquaint students with the tools that can be used to interpret literary works and their impact on culture and societies

c. to enable students to draft critical essays in line with the guidelines provided

d. to deepen the students' experience in presenting their knowledge and opinions in a spoken form

3. Main areas covered during the course:

a. theoretical terms and ideas characteristic of Russian Formalism

b. American Formalism

c. structuralist-semiotic tradition of Roman Jakobson

d. semiotics in historical perspective, Narratology in historical perspective, Reader-oriented theories, Selected trends in post-structuralist approaches to literature

4. Didactic methods used:

a. multimedia-based lecture

b. problem-focused lecture

c. discussion

d. text analysis and discussion

5. Graduate’s profile:

a. The graduate is aware of the contemporary literary theories and resulting linguistic research toolkit; they can process the knowledge acquired and apply it to critically interpret a text in writing and speaking; they know how to find and use reliable language data sources, process and sythetize them into a written or spoken form in an individual or team work effort.