Guide for papers for ENG 406, summer 2007
Literary
criticism often falls into various categories, such as new historicism,
deconstruction, and critical approaches labeled psychoanalytic and feminist. Additional approaches used by literary
critics include Marxist, formalist (also called New Criticism, though there is
nothing especially new about it), and archetypal. Choose one of these
approaches to focus on in your paper. Your paper should define the chosen
approach in an early paragraph or two, naming at least one important
practitioner of the chosen critical approach, and then apply the approach.
The first essay must address The Picture of
Dorian Gray in the bulk of the paper. I would expect a "C" paper would
properly quote from the primary text (the novel and the appended
materials by Wilde in the book, for the first essay). An "A" or "B" paper will include
additional sources outside the class materials. A professional-looking
1500-word paper in MLA style should be presented on or before the due date.