LITS3304 CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL THEORY:
POST-STRUCTURALISMS AND POST-COLONIALISMS

EXAM ADVICE 2008-2009

1. The focus of the exam is primarily on Module 2 (which deals mainly with questions of literary theory).  You may, where possible or necessary, draw on material covered in Module 1 (e.g. Said's Orientalism) to answer questions which are largely devoted to the readings which comprise Module 2 (e.g. a question based on Said's "Secular Criticism").

2. The exam has SIX questions;

3. You are required to answer TWO questions in all, each from a different section.

4. There are three sections devoted to, respectively, Dialogism (the Bakhtin Circle), Structuralist Marxism, and Foucauldian Discourse Theory

5. In each section, there are TWO questions.  The first is a comparative question while the second focuses specifically on the work of a single Postcolonial/ African American theorist.  Hence, the following structure to the exam:

   • Dialogism:

     • Q. 1: Medvedev, Bakhtin

     • Q. 2: Gates

   • Structuralist Marxism:

     • Q. 1: Althusser, Eagleton

     • Q. 2: Bhabha

   • Foucauldian Discourse Theory:

     • Q. 1: Foucault, Greenblatt

     • Q. 2: Said

6. Each question will address one of the following sub-topics of literary theory:

   • The characteristic features of the approach to criticism of the school in question (e.g. 'what do you understand by a Structuralist Marxist approach to criticism?'):

     • Dialogism

     • Structuralist Marxism

     • Foucauldian Discourse Theory

     • Postcolonial Theory

     • African American Theory

   • The Author

   • Literary Form and Genre

   • Literary History (the Tradition) / Intertextuality / Canonicity

   • The Reader

   • Representation

7. In each answer, you should carefully analyse the argument(s) of the theorist(s) in response to the particular question asked.

This site was last updated: February 03, 2011

Please direct all queries HERE

↑ Grab this Headline Animator