A Companion to Literary Theory

Introduces readers to the modes of literary and cultural study of the previous half century

A Companion to Literary Theory is a collection of 36 original essays, all by noted scholars in their field, designed to introduce the modes and ideas of contemporary literary and cultural theory. Arranged by topic rather than chronology, in order to highlight the relationships between earlier and most recent theoretical developments, the book groups its chapters into seven convenient sections: I. Literary Form: Narrative and Poetry; II. The Task of Reading; III. Literary Locations and Cultural Studies; IV. The Politics of Literature; V. Identities; VI. Bodies and Their Minds; and VII. Scientific Inflections.

Allotting proper space to all areas of theory most relevant today, this comprehensive volume features three dozen masterfully written chapters covering such subjects as: Anglo–American New Criticism; Chicago Formalism; Russian Formalism; Derrida and Deconstruction; Empathy/Affect Studies; Foucault and Poststructuralism; Marx and Marxist Literary Theory; Postcolonial Studies; Ethnic Studies; Gender Theory; Freudian Psychoanalytic Criticism; Cognitive Literary Theory; Evolutionary Literary Theory; Cybernetics and Posthumanism; and much more.

Features 36 essays by noted scholars in the field Fills a growing need for companion books that can guide readers through the thicket of ideas, systems, and terminologies Presents important contemporary literary theory while examining those of the past

The Wiley–Blackwell A Companion to Literary Theory will be welcomed by college and university students seeking an accessible and authoritative guide to the complex and often intimidating modes of literary and cultural study of the previous half century.

Notes on Contributors

Acknowledgements (awaiting)

Introduction

I. Literary Form: Narrative and Poetry

1. British and American New Criticism (William Cain)

2. Chicago Formalism (David Richter)

3. Russian Formalism (David Gorman)

4. Structuralism and Semiotics (Marina Grishakova)

5. Stylistics (Michael Toolan)

6. Contemporary Narrative Theory (James Phelan)

II. The Task of Reading

7. The Intention Debates (Peter Rabinowitz)

8. Deconstruction (Christopher Norris)

9. Reader–Response Theory (David S. Miall)

10. Empathy Studies (Suzanne Keen)

11. Contemporary Proposals about Reading in the Digital Age (Matthew Gold and Rachel Sagner Buurma)

III. Literary Locations and Cultural Studies

12. The Location of Literature (John Guillory)

13. The Verbal and the Visual (James A. W. Heffernan)

14. Foucault and Poststructuralism (Alan D. Schrift)

15. Cultural Studies (Paul Smith)

IV. The Politics of Literature

16. Marxian Criticism in History (Robert Kaufman)

17. The Frankfurt School and Its Successors (Jeffrey T. Nealon)

18. Althusser: Structuralist or Anti–Structuralist (Warren Montag)

19. New Historicism and Cultural Materialism (Neema Parvini)

20. Levinas and Agamben (Thomas Carl Wall)

21. Postcolonial Theory (Siraj Ahmed)

22. Globalization Studies (Diana Brydon)

V. Identities

23. Race/Literature/Theory (James Braxton Peterson)

24. Ethnic Studies (Ron Scapp)

25. Anglophone Feminisms (Robyn Warhol)

26. Gender Theory: Femininities and Masculinities (Margaret Galvan)

27. Queer Theory (Steven Kruger)

28. Disability Studies (Christopher Krentz)

29. Trauma Studies (Michelle Balaev)

VI. Bodies and Their Minds

30. Freudian Psychoanalytic Criticism (Daniel T. O′Hara)

31. Lacanian Psychoanalytic Criticism (Karen Coats)

32. Archetypal Criticism: Jung and Frye (Glen Robert Gill)

33. Cognitive Literary Criticism (Gabrielle Starr)

VII. Scientific Inflections

34. Evolutionary Literary Theory (Joseph Carroll)

35. Ecocriticism (Harold Fromm)

36. Cybernetics and Posthumanism (Thomas Foster)

Index

David H. Richter, PhD is Professor of English at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center.He publishes in the fields of critical and narrative theory (including film theory), biblical interpretation, and eighteenth–century literature. His most recent critical books are The Progress of Romance: Literary Historiography and the Gothic Novel and Reading the Eighteenth–Century Novel.