Beginning Theory

Introduction: about this book; approaching theory; stop and think - reviewing your study of literature to date. Part 1 Theory before "theory" - liberal humanism: the history of English studies; ten tenets of liberal-humanism; literary theorising from Aristotle to Leavis - some key moments; liberal humanism in practice; selected reading; the transition to "theory"; some recurrent ideas in critical theory. Part 2 Structuralism: structuralist chickens and liberal-humanist eggs; signs of the fathers - Saussure; the scope of structuralism; what structuralist critics do; structuralist criticism - examples - selected reading. Part 3 Poststructuralism and deconstruction: some theoretical differences between structuralism and poststructuralism; post-structuralisms - life life on a decentred planet; structuralism and poststructuralism - some practical differences; what poststructuralist critics do; deconstruction - an example; selected reading. Part 4 Postmodernism: what is postmodernism/what was modernism?; "Landmarks" in postmodernism - Habermas and Baudrillard; what postmodernist critics do; postmodernist criticism - an example; selected reading. Part 5 Psychoanalytic criticism: introduction; how Freudian interpretation works; Freud and evidence; what Freudian psychoanalytic critics do; Freudian criticism - examples; Lacan; what Lacanian critics do; Lacanian criticism - an example; selected reading. Part 6 Feminist criticism: feminism and feminist criticism; feminist criticism and the role of theory; feminist criticism and language; feminist criticism and psychoanalysis; what feminist critics do; feminist criticism - an example; selected reading. Part 7 Lesbian/gay criticism: lesbian and gay theory; lesbian feminism; queer theory; what lesbian/gay critics do; lesbian/gay criticism - an example; selected reading. Part 8 Marxist criticism: beginnings and basics of Marxism; Marxist literary criticism - general; "Leninist" Marxist criticism; "Engelsian" Marxist criticism; the present - the influence of Althusser; what Marxist critics do; Marxist criticism - an example; selected reading. Part 9 New historicism and cultural materialism: new historicism; new and old historicisms - some differences; new historicism and Foucault; advantages and disadvantages; what new historicists do; new historicism - an example; cultural materialism; how is cultural materialism different from new historicism?; what cultural materialist critics do; cultural materialism - an example; selected reading. Part 10 Postcolonial criticism: background; postcolonial reading; what postcolonialist critics do; postcolonialist criticism - an example; selected reading. Part 11 Stylistics: stylistics, a theory or a practice?; a brief history - from "Rhetoric" to "The New Stylistics"; how does stylistics differ from close reading?; the ambitions of stylistics; what stylisticians do; stylistics - examples; selected reading.