The Complete Idiot's Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism PDF

Author: Steven J. Venturino, PhD

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-03-05

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 1615643273

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From Plato to Freud to ecocriticism, the book illustrates dozens of stimulating-and sometimes notoriously complex-perspectives for approaching literature and film. The book offers authoritative, clear, and easy-to-follow explanations of theories that range from established classics to the controversies of current theory. Each chapter offers a conversational, step-by-step explanation of a single theory, critic, or issue, accompanied by concrete examples for applying the concepts and engaging suggestions for related literary readings. Following a section on the foundations of literary theory, the book is organized thematically, with an eye to the best way to develop a real, working understanding of the various theories. Cross-references are particularly important, since it's through the interaction of examples that readers most effectively advance from basic topics and arguments to some of the more specialized and complicated issues. Each chapter is designed to tell a complete story, yet also to reach out to other chapters for development and debate. Literary theorists are hardly unified in their views, and this book reflects the various traditions, agreements, influences, and squabbles that are a part of the field. Special features include hundreds of references to and quotations from novels, stories, plays, poems, movies, and other media. Online resources could also include video and music clips, as well as high-quality examples of visual art mentioned in the book. The book also includes periodic "running" references to selected key titles (such as Frankenstein) in order to illustrate the effect of different theories on a single work.

Literary Theory and Criticism: An Introduction

Literary Theory and Criticism: An Introduction PDF

Author: Anne H. Stevens

Publisher: Broadview Press

Published: 2015-06-18

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 1770485619

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Literary Theory and Criticism: An Introduction provides an accessible overview of major figures and movements in literary theory and criticism from antiquity to the twenty-first century. It is designed for students at the undergraduate level or for others needing a broad synthesis of the long history of literary theory. An introductory chapter provides an overview of some of the major issues within literary theory and criticism; further chapters survey theory and criticism in antiquity, the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the nineteenth century. For twentieth- and twenty-first-century theory, the discussion is subdivided into separate chapters on formalist, historicist, political, and psychoanalytic approaches. The final chapter applies a variety of theoretical concepts and approaches to two famous works of literature: William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Literary Theory: The Complete Guide

Literary Theory: The Complete Guide PDF

Author: Mary Klages

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2017-02-09

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 147259276X

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Bringing together Mary Klages's bestselling introductory books Literary Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed and Key Terms in Literary Theory into one fully integrated and substantially revised, expanded and updated volume, this is an accessible and authoritative guide for anyone entering the often bewildering world of literary theory for the first time. Literary Theory: The Complete Guide includes: · Accessible chapters on all the major schools of theory from deconstruction through psychoanalytic criticism to Marxism and postcolonialism · New chapters introducing ecocriticism and biographies · Expanded and updated guides to feminist theory, queer theory, postmodernism and globalization · New and fully integrated extracts of theoretical and literary texts to guide students through their use of theory · Accessible coverage of major theorists such as Saussure, Freud, Lacan, Foucault, Cixous, Deleuze and Guattari and Bhabha Each chapter now includes reflection questions for class discussion or independent study and a cross-referenced glossary of key terms covered, as well as updated guides to further reading on each topic. Literary Theory: The Complete Guide is an essential starting point for students of critical theory.

A Complete Guide to Literary Analysis and Theory

A Complete Guide to Literary Analysis and Theory PDF

Author: Michael Ryan

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-11-25

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1000783316

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A Complete Guide to Literary Analysis and Theory offers an accessible introduction to all the current approaches to literary analysis. Ranging from stylistics and historicism to post-humanism and new materialism, it also includes chapters on media studies and screen studies. The Guide is designed for use in introductory literature courses and as a primer in theory courses. Each chapter summarizes the main ideas of each approach to the study of literature in clear prose, providing lucid introductions to the practice of each school, and conducts readings using classic and modern works of literature from around the world. The book draws on examples from a wide range of works from classics such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Shakespeare's King Lear to contemporary works such as Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb." This wide-ranging introduction is ideal for students encountering literary study for the first time, as well as more advanced students who need a concise summary of critical methods. It strives to make complex ideas simple and provides readings that undergraduates should be able to understand and enjoy as well as training them to conduct analyses of their own.

Introduction to Literary Analysis

Introduction to Literary Analysis PDF

Author: Louis Hébert

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-06-21

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1000589706

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This book provides a complete guide to analyzing literary works, from an introduction of basic principles to the finer details. Separated into three sections, the book covers: • Principles—this looks at what literary analysis is, its three main components, and the various possible objects of analysis. • Main components—introduces nearly 30 aspects of text analysis, such as style, themes, social aspects, and context, and then goes on to introduce nearly 50 approaches, such as literary history, ecocriticism, narratology, and sociology. • The process of analysis—details the general structure of the analytical text, the structure of a pedagogical essay, the analysis of a theoretical element, possible “plans” for the analytical text, methods of argumentation, statements of opinion, hypotheses, the structure of paragraphs, and the use of citations. This book is a synthesis of established scholarship with new, original insights, making it an ideal introduction to the study of literature as well as a valuable companion throughout further study.

Introducing Literary Criticism

Introducing Literary Criticism PDF

Author: Owen Holland

Publisher: Icon Books Ltd

Published: 2016-02-04

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 1848319053

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From Plato to Virginia Woolf, Structuralism to Practical Criticism, Introducing Literary Criticism charts the history and development of literary criticism into a rich and complex discipline. Tackling disputes over the value and meaning of literature, and exploring theoretical and practical approaches, this unique illustrated guide will help readers of all levels to get more out of their reading.

Critical Theory Today

Critical Theory Today PDF

Author: Lois Tyson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-09-10

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13: 1136615563

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Critical Theory Today is the essential introduction to contemporary criticial theory. It provides clear, simple explanations and concrete examples of complex concepts, making a wide variety of commonly used critical theories accessible to novices without sacrificing any theoretical rigor or thoroughness. This new edition provides in-depth coverage of the most common approaches to literary analysis today: feminism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, reader-response theory, new criticism, structuralism and semiotics, deconstruction, new historicism, cultural criticism, lesbian/gay/queer theory, African American criticism, and postcolonial criticism. The chapters provide an extended explanation of each theory, using examples from everyday life, popular culture, and literary texts; a list of specific questions critics who use that theory ask about literary texts; an interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby through the lens of each theory; a list of questions for further practice to guide readers in applying each theory to different literary works; and a bibliography of primary and secondary works for further reading.

A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory

A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory PDF

Author: Raman Selden

Publisher:

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13:

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Unsurpassed as a text for upper-division and beginning graduate students, Raman Selden's classic text is the liveliest, most readable and most reliable guide to contemporary literary theory. Includes applications of theory, cross-referenced to Selden's companion volume, Practicing Theory and Reading Literature.