This seminar explores literature as a cultural object that is susceptible to inquiry in cultural studies. Course readings and discussions focus on the conditions of existence for literary objects. Topics include the epistemological question of what is – and what is not – literature (i.e., literature as form); the relations of literature to society; the literary field; the production, distribution, and reception of the literary object; the politics of literature; and the knowledge claims of literature. Writers include: Virginia Woolf, Jeanette Winterson, Paul Ricœur, Roland Barthes, Hayden White, Ian Watt, Henry James, Georg Lukács, Pierre Bourdieu, Elaine Castillo, Janice A. Radway, Dorrit Cohn, Michel Foucault, Mark McGurl, Wolfgang Iser, and others. [Tracks C, M]