Literary Theory Courses and Certifications

Freud and Fiction - Psychoanalysis in Literary Theory

1 rating

Examines how Peter Brooks combines Freud’s pleasure principle and death wish to explain narrative structures.

• YouTube
• 51 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

The New Historicism in Literary Theory - Lecture 19

An introduction to New Historicism through Greenblatt, McGann, Foucault, Bakhtin, and editing Keats’s poetry.

• YouTube
• 53 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Deconstruction in Literary Theory - Lecture 11

Examines deconstruction through Derrida’s relationship with Levi-Strauss and Paul de Man, using examples from Yeats, Proust, and “All in the Family.”

• YouTube
• 53 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Post-Colonial Criticism in Literary Theory - Lecture 22

An exploration of post-colonial theory through Said and Bhabha, focusing on ambivalence, hybridity, and the semiotic dimensions of “sly civility”.

• YouTube
• 55 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

MEG-05: Literary Criticism & Theory

Explore how literary theories—from classical criticism to feminism and deconstruction—reshape readings of literature through perspectives on authors, texts, race, class, and gender.

• Swayam
• 16 weeks
• Available until Nov 15, 2026
• Free Online Course

20th Century Literary Criticism and Theory-I

Survey 20th-century literary theory through text-centered approaches, from New Criticism and Russian Formalism to structuralism, deconstruction, reader-response, semiotics, and stylistics.

• Swayam
• 8 weeks
• Available until Oct 12, 2026
• Free Online Course

Literary Theory: Foundations and Contemporary Perspectives

A foundational survey of literary theory’s major schools and how they read literature through ideology, identity, culture, and power.

• Swayam
• Available until Oct 24, 2026
• Free Online Course

Influence in Literary Theory - Tradition and Individualism

Examines how poets struggle with literary predecessors through Harold Bloom’s theories of influence, tradition, imitation, and psychoanalytic interpretation.

• YouTube
• 51 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

The End of Theory - Neo-Pragmatism and Literary Criticism

Examines Knapp and Michaels’s “Against Theory,” using Wordsworth to question intention, meaning, language, and the necessity of theory in literary study.

• YouTube
• 54 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

African-American Criticism in Literary Theory - Lecture 21

An examination of African-American literary criticism through the work of Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Toni Morrison.

• YouTube
• 54 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Reflections on Literary Theory - Who Doesn't Hate Theory Now?

A final lecture on how language shapes speech, intention, and communication across major literary theories, illustrated through epitaphs and Tony the Tow Truck.

• YouTube
• 50 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

NPTEL;  IIT Madras

Literary Theory and Literary Criticism

1 rating

The course covers topics on Classical Theory, Romanticism, Realism and Naturalism, Marxism, Criticism, Structuralism, Psychoanalysis, Gender, and Queer Theory, Post Structuralism, Reader Response, and Reception, Post Colonialism, Semiotics, Film Studies…

• YouTube
• 17 hours
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Reading Sianne Ngai: Aesthetics, Emotions & Capitalism (Live Online)

40 ratings at CourseHorse

Examine the intersection of aesthetics and capitalism through Sianne Ngai’s exploration of feelings, categories, and judgments like the zany, cute, and gimmicky.

• CourseHorse
• 12 hours
• Self-Paced
• $355.00

Fredric Jameson: Art, Postmodernism, and Utopia (Live Online)

34 ratings at CourseHorse

Delve into the intricate world of Fredric Jameson, where history, culture, and ideology intersect in profound ways.

• CourseHorse
• 12 hours
• Self-Paced
• $335.00

What is Irony? (Live Online)

33 ratings at CourseHorse

Examine irony as both a literary technique and a political force, shaping how truth, sincerity, and meaning are understood.

• CourseHorse
• 12 hours
• Self-Paced
• $335.00