English 8070. The History of Criticism and Theory

How is the consciousness of irreversible human-driven change in earth systems--a process increasingly widely known by the term "Anthropocene"--affecting literary criticism and theory?  The Anthropocene is certainly a buzzword in contemporary criticism, but the apparent collapse of a massive distinction between humans and nature should also provoke a reconsideration of the entire tradition of literature as mimesis, the imitation of nature.  In this course, we will consider some classic texts in the history of criticism and theory, including Aristotle's Poetics, Sidney's Apology for Poetry, and Kant's “Analytic of the Sublime,” that make transformative claims about the representational capacities of literary art, about its relationship to nature.  We will consider the imprint or “footprint” of literature along with the atmospheric and chemical footprints left by the various systems in which it has flourished, including animal-powered agriculture, coal-driven industry, and the petroleum-besotted Space Age. We will also engage with recent work on cultural production in the face of climate crisis, including critical books such as Amitav Ghosh’s The Great Derangement and Elizabeth De Loughrey’s Allegories of the Anthropocene and a representative novel such as  Erna Brodber’s The Rainmaker’s Mistake. Our course text will be the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (third edition) along with 3-4 contemporary volumes.