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Literary Criticism in English

Code: 106326
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
English Studies OP 3
English Studies OP 4

Contact lecturer

Name :
Jordi Coral Escola
Email :
jordi.coral@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

An essential requirement is a C2 level of English in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment.

A level of English at C2 allows students to understand with ease virtually everything heard or read; to summarise information from distinct spoken and written sources; to reconstruct arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation; and to express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.

Students who register for this subject should have passed the obligatory literature subjects of our degree.

Objectives

This course introduces students to the practices and methods of some of the main approaches in literary criticism as developed in the recent past decades. In order to appreciate the interpretative, i.e. practical, effects of these approaches, the course focusses on tragic theory, which has provided a great deal of key concepts such as catharsis, mimesis and hamartia, but also the foundational frameworks of analysis for character psychology and dramatic structure. Through detailed reading of four tragic masterpieces, the course shows that, thanks to the work of essential thinkers like Aristotle, Hegel or Freud, tragedy has become, beyond mere entertainment, a tool of the highest order for the philosophical and moral enquiry into the most pressing issues of our times as well as for an enhanced understanding of the deeply transformative experiences of violence, trauma, memory and guilt and the role they play in shaping both individual and collective identities.





Learning outcomes

  1. In an effective manner, organise the autonomous component to learning.
  2. Plan work effectively, individually or in groups, in order to fulfil the planned objectives.
  3. Locate specialised and academic information and select this according to its relevance.
  4. Incorporate ideas and concepts from published sources into work, citing and referencing appropriately.
  5. Express oneself in English orally and in writing in an academic register, using terminology appropriate to the study of the texts and contexts of English literature.
  6. Understand specialised academic texts on research into the texts and contexts of English literature.
  7. Produce written and spoken academic texts at a higher-proficient-user level (C2) on the concepts and skills relevant to the study of English literary texts and contexts.
  8. Demonstrate comprehension of specialist and non-specialist texts in English of high difficulty and interpret these critically.
  9. Distinguish principal ideas from secondary ideas and synthesise their contents in literary texts in English from earlier to contemporary periods.
  10. Analyse and interpret literary texts in English from periods prior to the contemporary period.
  11. Interpret extracts from documents and texts in English representative of distinct historical periods.
  12. Understanding and reflecting on relatively specialised authentic texts in English in various academic and professional fields.
  13. Identify the stylistic and cultural elements that make up the interpretation of different literary genres in English.
  14. Describe critically and in detail the set of stylistic and cultural elements that affect a literary text in English.
  15. Understand and reflect on the different critical and interpretative contexts of the teaching of literature in English.
  16. Analyse the contexts of application of literary and interpretative criticism in the different areas of literary and cultural production in English.
  17. Develop advanced oral and written criticism in teaching, academic and cultural contexts in English.
  18. Understand and differentiate adequately between the concepts of literature and culture in English, as well as their mutual relations and interactions.
  19. Understand and reflect on literature and culture in English, situating these in their contexts and historical circumstances.
  20. Develop coherent discourses on literature and culture in English and apply these discourses to the analysis of social and academic reality.

Contents

Introduction to tragic theory and its importance for literary criticism

Classical tragedy (1)

Early modern tragedy (2)

Modern tragedy (3) and (4):


  1. Heaney, Seamus, The Burial at Thebes: Sophocles's Antigone (London: Faber and Faber, 2005) or The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles's Antigone (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005).
  2. Marlowe, Christopher, Dr Faustus, ed. by David Scott Kastan and Matthew Hunter, Norton Critical Editions (New York: Norton, 2023).
  3. Wilde, Oscar, "Salome", in The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays, ed. by Kate Hext, Oxford World's Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025).
  4. J. M. Synge, "Riders to the Sea", in The Playboy of the Western World and Other Plays, ed. by Ann Saddlemyer, Oxford World's Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).


Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Lectures 50 2 5, 6, 7, 8, 19, 20
Bibliographical research 10 0.4 9, 11, 12, 17, 18
Critical debate 5 0.2 5, 8, 13, 16
Individual reading and study 60 2.4 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 14, 15

 

1 crèdit ECTS = 25 hs teaching x 6 credits = 150 h.

  • Directed activities
  • Supervised activities
  • Autonomous activities
  • Assessment activities

*Within the teaching period established by the Faculty calendar, 15 minutes of class time will be reserved for students to complete the subject and teacher-assessment surveys.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
In-class essay writing (2) 40 % 4 0.16 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
Class participation and class presentation 20% 17 0.68 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
In-class essay (1) 40 % 4 0.16 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16

Continuous assessment for this subject is based on the following exercises:

  • In-class written essay (1) = 40%
  • In-class written essay (2) = 40%
  • Class presentation = 10%
  • Class attendance and participation = 10%
  • All exercises are compulsory.
  • The minimum pass mark is 5 for all exercises and assessment activities.
  • Submission of any exercise excludes the possibility of obtaining a grade of Not assessed as the final course grade.
  • The level of English will be taken into account when marking the written essays and will account for 25% of the grade for these exercises.
  • Grade review procedure: on carrying out each assessment activity, the lecturer will inform students (via Moodle) of the procedure and date for grade review. The maximum deadline for communicating the grades of assessed exercises is three weeks.
  • Students will receive a grade of "Not assessed" provided they have not submitted more than 30% of the assessment activities.
  • A continuous assessment average of 4.9 is automatically rounded up to 5, with the corresponding implications for re-assessment.
  • The provisional course average will be communicated to students at least 72 hours before the re-assessment exam.


NOT ASSESSED:

  • Students will receive a grade of "Not assessed"/"Not Submitted" provided they have not submitted more than 30% of the assessment activities, that is to say, have not taken either of the two exams.

RE-ASSESSMENT:

  1. Re-assessment will be carried out on an item-by-item basis under the following conditions:
  2. To access re-assessment, students must have obtained a continuous assessment average of 3.5 or above.
  3. To access re-assessment, students must previously have been assessed in a set of activities whose combined weight amounts to a minimum of two-thirds of the total.
  4. Students who have passed both exams cannot opt for re-assessment in order to raise their grade.
  5. The essays (80% of the final grade combined) are re-assessable provided that condition a) is met; class presentations are not re-assessable and
  6. students must deliver them on the day and time set in the schedule agreed at the beginning of the course.

SINGLE ASSESSMENT:

  • Students who opt for this modality will be assessed according to the following criteria:
  • An in-class written essay on units I and II, written on the same day and at the same time that the rest of the group writes their essay (1) in class (40% of the final grade).
  • A written essay whose contents correspond to essay (2) of the rest of the group. The essay will be submitted on the same day that the rest of the class writes their in-class essay (40% of the final grade).
  • Class attendance and participation (10% of the final grade).
  • Class presentation to be held on the day and time agreed with the lecturer at the start of the course (10% of the final grade).
  • The same re-assessment system as for continuous assessment will apply.

Students who opt for this assessment modality must have completed all scheduled activities in order to access re-assessment.


PLAGIARISM:

In the event of astudent committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the studentwillbe given a zerofor this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

Irregularities refer, for instance, to copying in an exam, copying from sources without indiacting authorship, or a misuse of AI such as presenting work as original that has been generated by an AI tool or programme. These evaluation activities will not be re-assessed.


ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE (AI):

This subject entirely prohibits the use of AI technologies in all of its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.


EXAMINATION DATES AND SUBMISSION DEADLINES:

Requests to change examination dates or submission deadlines for personal reasons will not be granted unless they are illness-related and a doctor's certificate can be provided; Erasmus and exchange students who cannot take an exam or submit an essay for justifiable reasons will need to submit to their teacher(s) written proof of the latter issued by their home university.


Bibliography

Texts:


Heaney, Seamus, The Burial at Thebes: Sophocles's Antigone (London: Faber and Faber, 2005)

(or Seamus Heaney, The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles's Antigone (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005)).


Marlowe, Christopher, Dr Faustus, ed. by David Scott Kastan and Matthew Hunter, Norton Critical Editions (New York: Norton, 2023).


Wilde, Oscar, "Salome", in The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays, ed. by Kate Hext, Oxford World's Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025).


J. M. Synge, "Riders to the Sea", in The Playboy of the Western World and Other Plays, ed. by Ann Saddlemyer, Oxford World's Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).



Contexts:


Aristotle, Poetics, ed. by Michelle Zerba and David Gorman, Norton Critical Editions (New York: Norton, 2018).

Butler, Judith, Antigone's Claim: Kinship between Life and Death (Columbia: Columbia University Press, 2002).

Eagleton, Terry, Sweet Violence: The Idea of the Tragic (London: Blackwell, 2002).

Freud, Sigmund, Interpreting Dreams, Penguin Classics (Hardmondsworth: Penguin Books, 2006).

Girard, René, Violence and the Sacred (London: Bloomsbury, 2013).

Kerrigan, John, Revenge Tragedy: Aeschylus to Armageddon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).

Kitto, H.D.F., Greek Tragedy: A Literary Study (London: Routledge, 2002).

Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Birth of Tragedy, Oxford World's Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).

Nuttall, A.D., Why Does Tragedy Give Pleasure? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).

Pollard, Tanya and Marcus Nevitt, Reader in Tragedy: An Anthology of Classical Criticism to Contemporary Theory (London: Methuen, 2019).

Poole, Adrian, Tragedy. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).

Sophocles, Antigone, ed. by Sheila Murnaghan, Norton Critical Editions (New York: Norton, 2023).

William, Bernard, Shame and Necessity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008).

Zambrano, María, La tumba de Antígona y otros textos sobre el personaje trágico (Madrid: Cátedra, 2012).


During the semester further bibliographical references for each of the course units will be provided via Moodle.

Software

 No specific software will be used.

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TE) Theory 1 English second semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 English second semester morning-mixed