Beyond the schools approach: chronological and thematic course designs for teaching literary theory

Since its first appearance on the literary studies curriculum in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the undergraduate survey course on literary theory and criticism has been beset by ambiguity. On the one hand, most scholars in the field agree that student exposure to what is often simply known as “theory” is necessary both as a guide for literary analysis and as a means of complicating the intuitive notions about literature with which students typically begin their first degree. On the other hand, the ubiquitous “lit crit” offerings have long had a reputation for presenting pedagogical difficulties to the point of being unteachable, and these teacher complaints are typically echoed on the student side, with many undergraduates struggling to find their bearings in a field of intense rhetorical and conceptual difficulty.