Description
This thoroughly updated fourth edition of Critical Theory Today offers an accessible introduction to contemporary critical theory, providing in-depth coverage of the most common approaches to literary analysis today, including: feminism; psychoanalysis; Marxism; reader-response theory; New Criticism; structuralism and semiotics; deconstruction; new historicism and cultural criticism; lesbian, gay, and queer theory; African American criticism; and postcolonial criticism and ecocriticism.
This new edition features:
• A brand new chapter on ecocriticism, including sections on deep ecology, eco-Marxism, ecofeminism (including radical, Marxist, and vegetarian ecofeminisms), and postcolonial ecocriticism and environmental justice
• Considerable updates to the chapters on feminist theory, African American theory, postcolonial theory, and LGBTQ theories, including terminology and theoretical concepts
• An extended explanation of each theory, using examples from everyday life, popular culture, and a variety of literary texts
• A list of specific questions critics 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
• Updated and expanded bibliographies
Both engaging and rigorous, this is a "how-to" book for undergraduate and graduate students new to critical theory and for college professors who want to broaden their repertoire of critical approaches to literature.
Table of Contents
Preface to the fourth edition
Preface for instructors
Acknowledgements
1 Everything you wanted to know about critical theory but were afraid to ask
2 Psychoanalytic criticism
3 Marxist criticism
4 Feminist criticism
5 New Criticism
6 Reader-response criticism
7 Structuralist criticism
8 Deconstructive criticism
9 New historical and cultural criticism
10 Lesbian, gay, and queer criticism
11 African American criticism
12 Postcolonial criticism
13 Ecocriticism
14 Gaining an overview
