How to Do Theory

Literary theory has become a branch of learning in its own right, and for teachers as well as students its complexities can sometimes be daunting. In this succinct introduction, Wolfgang Iser, himself a renowned theorist: explains what “theory” is and why it is that there are so many different theories deals in turn with those theories that have made the greatest impact in recent times, among them phenomenological theory, reception theory, semiotic theory, psychoanalytical theory, Marxist theory, deconstruction, art as experience, and feminist theory outlines the main components of each approach and explains how it is constructed. Using classic literary texts, including Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn, Spenser’s The Shepheardes Calender, and T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, Iser shows what a work of art looks like if viewed in terms of each of the theories concerned. He presents the different theories objectively, leaving it up to readers to decide which, if any, they subscribe to. In this way, he defuses students’ fear of theory and demonstrates the potential of different theories for interpreting texts.

Preface. 1. Introduction. Why Theory?. Hard Core and Soft Theory. Modes of Theory. Theory and Method. 2. Phenomenological Theory: Ingarden. The Layered Structure of the Work. Method derived from Theory. An Example. 3. Hermeneutical Theory: Gadamer. . Understanding. Method derived from Theory. An Example. 4. Gestalt Theory: Gombrich. . Schema and Correction. An Example. 5. Reception Theory: Iser. . Reaction to a State of Criticism. Interface between Text/Context and Text/Reader. 6. Semiotic Theory: Eco. . The Iconic Sign. The Aesthetic Idiolect. An Example. 7. Psychoanalytical Theory: Ehrenzweig. The Creative Process. An Example. An Afterthought–Spectacular Imaginig: Lacan. 8. Marxist Theory: Williams. . Reflectionist Theory. Production. Examples. 9. Deconstruction: Miller. . Deconstruction at Work. Deconstruction Exemplified. 10. Anthropological Theory: Gans. . Basics of Generative Anthropology. An Anthropological View of Literature. 11. Dewey′s Art as Experience. Aesthetic Experience. Circularity. An Example. 12. Showalter′s “Towards a Feminist Poetics”. Women as Readers. Women as Writers. Revisions and Additions. 13. Theory in Perspective. An Intellectual Landscape. The Fabric of Theory. What does the Multiplicity of Theories tell us?. 14. Postscript–Postcolonial Discourse: Said. Basic Features of Discourse. Startegies of Postcolonial Discourse. The Novel as Imperial Discourse. Modes of Resistance. The Order of Postcolonial Discourse. Appendix A John Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn. Appendix B Edmund Spenser “Februarie: Aegloga Secunda” from The Shepheardes Calender. Appendix C T.S. Eliot “The Fire Sermon” from The Waste Land. Index.

Wolfgang Iser is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Irvine. He is recognized as the founding theorist behind reception theory. His publications include the classic theoretical texts, The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication from Bunyan to Beckett (1978) and The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response (1979).