The course examines a range of key concepts in literary-cultural criticism. As an introduction, attention is given to central texts from the past which have decisively shaped modern conceptions of culture, and thereafter students engage with important debates in contemporary literary theory. Here, central illustrative examples may be drawn from such theoretical areas as Marxism, Feminism Psychoanalysis, Postcolonialism, Cultural Studies, and Deconstruction. In particular, we will follow the interaction among ideas of literary value, the concerns of social criticism, and the nature of subjectivity.