Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Critical Reading of Texts II Syllabus - Mumbai University 2026

Syllabus for Critical Reading of Texts - II

Vocational skill course · English · Semester 5 · TY BA · 2 credits · 50 marks · 30 hours

Module 1: Text, Context and the Reader

1 Contextualizing the Text
Historical and Political reading methods
Social and Cultural reading methods
Literary and Biographical reading methods

Module 2: Critical Approaches to Reading

1 Interpreting Themes and Motifs
Love, Nature, Death, Violence, Time, Loss, Identity, Revenge, Nationalism, Spirituality
Recurrent motifs and intertextual references
2 Reading with Critical Approaches
Psychoanalytic
Feminist
Marxist
Reader-Response (to be taught in class but will not be part of semester end examination.)
3 Read the texts with the techniques and approaches studied
(For practice in class)
Poem
Prose

Reference Books

1 Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 11th ed., Cengage, 2015.
2 Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. 4th ed., Manchester UP, 2017.
3 Barthes, Roland. S/Z: An Essay. Translated by Richard Miller, Blackwell, 1974.
4 Bloom, Harold, editor. The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer Through Frost. HarperCollins, 2004.
5 Booth, Wayne C. The Rhetoric of Fiction. 2nd ed., U of Chicago P, 1983.
6 Brooks, Cleanth. The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry. Harcourt, 1947.
7 Chatman, Seymour. Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Cornell UP, 1978.
8 Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP, 2011.
9 Eagleton, Terry. How to Read Literature. Yale UP, 2013.
10 Fish, Stanley. Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities. Harvard UP, 1980.
11 Forster, E. M. Aspects of the Novel. Harcourt, 1927.
12 Genette, Gérard. Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method. Translated by Jane E. Lewin, Cornell UP, 1980.
13 Jakobson, Roman. Language in Literature. Harvard UP, 1987.
14 James, Henry. The Art of the Novel: Critical Prefaces. U of Chicago P, 1984.
15 Lodge, David, and Nigel Wood, editors. Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader. 3rd ed., Pearson, 2014.
16 Lodge, David. The Art of Fiction. Vintage, 1992.
17 Preminger, Alex, and T. V. F. Brogan, editors. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton UP, 1993.
18 Ramazani, Jahan, et al., editors. The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. 3 rd ed., Norton, 2003.
19 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. 2 nd ed., Routledge, 2002.
20 Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. 3rd ed., Routledge, 2015.
21 Vendler, Helen. Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. 4 th ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017.
22 Wellek, René, and Austin Warren. Theory of Literature. Harcourt, 1949.

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