Introducing Literary Theories

A Guide and Glossary

Browse Return to Previous Page       Related Subjects All Subjects Literary Studies Literary Studies MOSTLY Theory

Edited by Julian Wolfreys

Edinburgh University Press

Due/Published March 2002, 336 pages, paper

ISBN 0748614834

This volume is an ideal introduction for those coming to literary theory for the first time. It covers the major theoretical approaches: Bakhtinian Criticism, Structuralism, Feminist Theory, Marxist Literary Theories, Reader-Response Theories, Psychoanalytic Criticism, Deconstruction, Poststructuralism, New Historicism, Cultural Materialism, Postcolonial Theory, Gay Studies/ Queer Theories, Cultural Studies and Postmodernism. Each chapter contains a clear presentation of the theory in question and applies it to an analysis of a key literary text to help students understand both the methodology and the practice of literary theory. The book is rounded out by useful bibliographies and a glossary of critical terms.

Contents


• Introduction
• 1. Mikhail Bakhtin and Bakhtinian criticism
• Notes towards a reading of A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man
• 2. Roland Barthes and structuralist criticism
• Notes towards a reading of Middlemarch
• 3. Will the real feminist theory please stand up?
• Notes towards readings of Mrs Dalloway and Middlemarch
• 4. The politics of literature: Marxist Literary Theories
• Notes towards a reading of Mrs Dalloway
• 5. There is no such thing as reader-response theory
• Notes towards a reading of Mrs Dalloway
• 6. The self, the other, and the text: Psychoanalytic Criticism
• Notes towards a reading of The Tempest
• 7. Deconstruction, what remains unread
• Notes towards a reading of In Memoriam A.H.H. 
• 8. Criticism and creativity: Poststructuralist Theories
• Notes towards a reading of Mrs Dalloway
• 9. History, power, and politics in the literary artifact: New Historicism
• Notes towards readings of The Tempest & In Memoriam A.H.H
• 10. Conflict and contradiction: Cultural Materialism
• Notes towards readings of The Tempest & In Memoriam A.H.H
• 11. Postcolonialism and the difficulty of difference
• Notes towards readings of The Tempest & The Swimming-Pool Library
• 12. Works on the Wild(e) side - performing, transgressing, queering: Gay Studies/Queer Theories
• Notes towards a reading of The Swimming-Pool Library
• 13 Theorizing culture, reading ourselves: Cultural Studies
• Notes towards readings of The Swimming-Pool Library & Prospero's Books
• 14. Postmodernism and Postmodernity: Literature, Criticism, Philosophy, Culture
• Notes towards readings of The Tempest & Paradise Lost