Introduction to Theory of Literature
Paul Fry surveys twentieth-century literary theory in this Open Yale Courses recording of ENGL 300, taught twice weekly on campus at Yale. Lectures move through the major schools, New Criticism, structuralism, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, reader-response, feminism, and beyond, using each to reopen the same questions: what literature is, how it gets made, how it can be understood, and what purpose it serves. Fry pairs each theoretical framework with close readings of poems and prose so the abstractions stay tethered to actual texts. The course includes the full set of recorded lectures with an accompanying syllabus and reading list drawn from primary theoretical works and Fry's own book on the subject. No assignments or certificate are offered, but the complete lecture series functions as a self-contained introduction to the field for anyone studying literary criticism independently.