Critical Theory is intended to familiarise students with how we think about and analyse artworks and human identity in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Our primary texts on this module are not works of fiction by novelists, filmmakers or dramatists, but the writings of theorists and cultural thinkers. We examine how these thinkers have addressed the changing world we live in, and its impact on who we are and how we write, read, envisage, and imagine. We explore how theories of class, gender and the unconscious have altered not only our conceptions of identity, but also how we analyze texts and images. We ask how social conditions, technology and sexuality have changed not only our representations in literature, film, or theatre, but also our ways of interpreting.
By introducing students to key ideas – such as ideology, alienation, intertextuality, embodiment, dream-work, and the mirror stage – the module seeks to equip students with a broad array of conceptual tools which they can apply to their own critical and creative work. It introduces the thinkers and thinking behind such key concepts, showing the links between them, and explores how particular theories can help us to analyze artworks in novel and unexpected ways.
Module Supervisor's Research into Subject Area
Critical and cultural theory are major areas of Professor Karin Littau’s research.
Professor Littau has published a book on Theories of Reading (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006) and a range of articles and book chapters on deconstruction and feminist theories.
By introducing students to key ideas – such as ideology, alienation, intertextuality, embodiment, dream-work, and the mirror stage – the module seeks to equip students with a broad array of conceptual tools which they can apply to their own critical and creative work. It introduces the thinkers and thinking behind such key concepts, showing the links between them, and explores how particular theories can help us to analyze artworks in novel and unexpected ways.
Module Supervisor's Research into Subject Area
Critical and cultural theory are major areas of Professor Karin Littau’s research.
Professor Littau has published a book on Theories of Reading (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006) and a range of articles and book chapters on deconstruction and feminist theories.