Introduction to Literary Theory

A. Aristotle
B. Viktor Shklovsky
C. Cleanth Brooks
D. Stanley Fish

A. To formulate relationships among an author, a reader, and a literary work
B. To understand the role of sexuality, gender, race, and ethnicity in literary study
C. To evaluate the role of historical context in the interpretation of literature
D. All of the above.

A. No fixed, stable meaning is possible.
B. Language must be studied in conjunction with history in order to create meaning.
C. There is no potential for multiple and differing meanings in a work of literature.
D. Literature is timeless, and thus meaning does not change.

A. As an aesthetic object that is independent of historical context
B. As an aesthetic object that is influenced by historical context
C. As a historical object that is also aesthetic
D. As a historical object that is not necessarily aesthetic

A. The names of authors serve a classificatory function.
B. The author is not a source of infinite meaning.
C. The author may not always exist.
D. All of the above.

A. How writers conceptualize natural environments and the representation of environmental issues in literature and culture
B. How writers have damaged the environment
C. How the environment can be repaired
D. Who is responsible for damaging the environment

A. Trauma theory
B. Ecotheory
C. Game theory
D. Marxist theory

A. mirrors our physical evolution as human beings.
B. prevents us from communicating through writing or speech.
C. involves a constant process of deferred meaning.
D. evolved exclusively as a function of our individual psyche.

A. Harold Bloom’s “An Elegy for the Canon”
B. Jacques Lacan’s “The Mirror Stage … ”
C. Cleanth Brooks’s “Keats’s Sylvan Historian”
D. Edward Said’s Orientalism

A. Julia Kristeva
B. Fredric Jameson
C. Terry Eagleton
D. Edward Said