Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Literary Criticism II Syllabus - Mumbai University 2026

Module 1: Key Concepts

• 1 Hegemony
• 2 Intertextuality
• 3 Deconstruction
• 4 Gynocriticism
• 5 Hybridity
• 6 Hyperreality

Module 2: Theoretical Perspectives 1

• 1 The Death of the Author. - Roland Barthes
• 2 “Art as Technique” -Viktor Shklovsky

Module 3: Theoretical Perspectives 2

• 1 The Laugh of the Medusa-Helen Cixous
• 2 Outside the Whale- Salman Rushdie

Module 4: Theoretical Perspectives 2

• 1 Marxism
• 2 Post-structuralism

Text Books

• 1 Shklovsky, Viktor. “Art as Technique.” Russian Formalist Criticism: Four Essays, translated by Lee T. Lemon and Marion J. Reis, University of Nebraska Press, 1965, pp. 3–24.
• 2 Barthes, Roland. “The Death of the Author.” Image–Music–Text, translated by Stephen Heath, Hill and Wang, 1977, pp. 142–148.
• 3 Cixous, Hélène. “The Laugh of the Medusa.” Signs, vol. 1, no. 4, 1976, pp. 875–893.
• 4 Rushdie, Salman. “Outside the Whale.” Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981–1991, Granta Books, 1991, pp. 87–101.

Reference Books

• 1 Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. 5th ed., Manchester University Press, 2017.
• 2 Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. University of Minnesota Press, 2008.
• 3 Selden, Raman, Peter Widdowson, and Peter Brooker. A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory. 6th ed., Routledge, 2016.
• 4 Bertens, Hans. Literary Theory: The Basics. 4th ed., Routledge, 2014.
• 5 Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. 3rd ed., Routledge, 2015.