Theory of literature [LROMB228]

Learning outcomes

• To acquire (memorise and master) a theoretical background for a detailed understanding of literary phenomena from various periods. • To mobilise, with discernment and critical sense, different theoretical frameworks in order to analyse with finesse and rigour literary objects from various periods.

Objectives

• To discover different theoretical definitions of literature and, for each of them, to show their specificities, contributions and limitations; • To introduce the different conceptions of the interpretation of literary works and, for each of them, to show their specificities, contributions and limits; • To illuminate the explanatory teachings of French authors.

Content

The course consists of two main parts: I. Theories of literature: four major defining models of literature are presented (literature as a fact of language, as a social fact, as a discursive fact and as a fact of reading). For each of them, the course gives a history of the main evolutions of these theoretical fields and shows their specificities. II. Theories of interpretation: many theories of interpretation are discussed in this section according to the following division. The first chapter deals with theories of interpretation that have seen the author as the guarantor of the meaning of the work; the second chapter deals with theories of interpretation that have privileged the context (historical, political, social, literary, etc.) as the main interpreter; the third and last chapter deals with theories of interpretation that have made the reader the main, or even the only, interpreter of the literary text.