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Introduction to Theory of Literature

Yale,, Spring 2009 , Prof. Paul H. Fry

Updated On 02 Feb, 19

Overview

Introduction - Ways In and Out of the Hermeneutic Circle - Configurative Reading - The Idea of the Autonomous Artwork - The New Criticism and Other Western Formalisms - Russian Formalism - Semiotics and Structuralism - Linguistics and Literature - Deconstruction - Freud and Fiction - Jacques Lacan in Theory - Influence - The Postmodern Psyche - The Social Permeability of Reader and Text - The Frankfurt School of Critical Theory - The Political Unconscious - The New Historicism - The Classical Feminist Tradition - African-American Criticism - Post-Colonial Criticism - Queer Theory and Gender Performativity - The Institutional Construction of Literary Study - The End of Theory?; Neo-Pragmatism - Reflections; Who Doesn't Hate Theory Now?

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Lecture 3: Ways In and Out of the Hermeneutic Circle

4.1 ( 11 )

Lecture Details

Introduction to Theory of Literature (ENGL 300)

In this lecture, Professor Paul Fry examines acts of reading and interpretation by way of the theory of hermeneutics. The origins of hermeneutic thought are traced through Western literature. The mechanics of hermeneutics, including the idea of a hermeneutic circle, are explored in detail with reference to the works of Hans-George Gadamer, Martin Heidegger, and E. D. Hirsch. Particular attention is paid to the emergence of concepts of "historicism" and "historicality" and their relation to hermeneutic theory.

0000 - Chapter 1. The History of Hermeneutics
1032 - Chapter 2. The Hermeneutic Circle
2037 - Chapter 3. On Prejudice
2345 - Chapter 4. Historicism and "Historicality"
2748 - Chapter 5. Gadamers Debt to Heidegger
3321 - Chapter 6. Prejudice and Tradition
3720 - Chapter 7. E. D. Hirsch

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website httpopen.yale.educourses

This course was recorded in Spring 2009.