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A culturally influential sub-discipline within literary studies, literary theory has developed in parallel form in other arts and social science disciplines, so that one might refer to “cultural theory” or “social theory” as well, or even just to “theory.” It’s as familiar as the word “postmodern” and as tricky as “deconstruction.” What is it about? What is at stake? Theory is about rationality. This book’s title invites two different interpretations of what it might mean to say so. For many, the essence of literary theory is the unmasking and redescription of rationality in other terms. Put ironically, rationality is male; rationality is white; rationality is repression.... The book’s title, however, can also be read in a second way. On this reading, rationality itself is the essence of literary theory and central to literature, art, and society. Certain conceptions of what it entails can be problematic; the critique in the first way of reading the title remains relevant. Yet one can affirm rationality as integral to human flourishing, including the processes of producing, analyzing, and enjoying literature, art, and culture. This book provides readers with a clear overview of theory’s development and the abiding presence of its concern with the status of rationality across its forms.
This interdisciplinary study establishes connections between divergent approaches to rationality in philosophy, social science, and literary studies. Livingston provides a broad survey of the basic assumptions and questions associated with concepts of rationality in philosophical accounts of action, in decision theory, and in the theory of rational choice.
Marxism initiated a new era not only for people to fight for socialist future, but also for each discipline of sciences to witness profound changes. In such a context, literature, which has always been closely related to politics, will inevitably move toward a new direction. This book is composed of two parts. Part One studies the development of literary theories in contemporary China from a Marxist perspective. It introduces the basic ideas of Marxist literary theories as well as their spread and development in China, such as the combination of the theories and Chinese revolutionary literature. Moreover, it discusses the challenges facing Marxist literary theories in the 21st century under the background of diversification of literature and art, in terms of theory and practice, and high technologies which brought about electronic writing and digital communication of literary works. The second part elucidates the author’s insights into major issues concerning literary theories (e.g. the relationship between literature and people, literature and reality, perception and rationality in literary creation, etc.) This book will appeal to scholars and students of literary aesthetics and Chinese literary and cultural studies. People who are interested in history of contemporary Chinese literature will also benefit from this book.
A remarkable, systematic reconstruction of the philosophical and aesthetic foundations of the major literary theories, from Anglo-American New Criticism to Deconstruction and Postmodernism. The book ranges across not just the philosophical underpinnings of English Literature but also the critical literatures of Eastern Europe, France, Germany, Italy and North America. For the first time, the major schools of literary theory are set within their philosophical context. The book is likely to become the standard introduction to the study of literary theory.
Roland Barthes declared that “the author is dead.” Professor Zhang Jiang challenges this statement by asking “is the author really dead?” In contemporary Western theories of literature and art, the relationship among the author, the text and the reader is not only a theoretical issue, but a matter of epistemology and philosophy with a broad background and rich connotations. Is the Author Really Dead? Textual Research into Contemporary Western Literary Theories analyzes the inadequacies and problems of contemporary Western literary theory and calls for realignment in this field. It argues that the root of the insurmountable conflict between Western literary theory and Chinese literary theory lies in what Professor Zhang terms “compulsory interpretation,” the recognition and repudiation of which should form the cornerstone of reconstructing contemporary Chinese literary theory.
The present work seeks to bring literary theory in line with the most recent practical turn the humanities are witnessing. When simplified, succinctly presented, and skillfully used in multi-coded interpretation within a semiocritical framework, literary theories become practical exercises in criticism, not only facilitating the interpretation of literature, but also making it more enjoyable and more rewarding. This book is different from its counterparts in the sense that it includes an exceptionally expanded model of the practice of literary theories, and replaces long and theoretical discussions with brief synopses of the examined theories. It relies on less-overused texts for illustration as it compiles and organizes the terms and phrases that are often used by the proponents of the discussed theories. The most influential literary theories that have so far been developed in academia are included: the New Criticism, reader-response criticism, structuralism, deconstruction, feminism, Marxism, psychoanalytic criticism, linguistic criticism, cultural materialism, new historicism, postcolonialism, and semiotics. Through eliminating the excesses made in the name of theory, this book will restore the faith of students, teachers, and practitioners in the useful and enduring nature of literary theory for the analysis and appreciation of literature.
The fourth edition of this reader's guide remains true to the ideals of previous editions, providing a concise guide to contemporary literary theories. The book covers a vast range of differing forms of English literature.
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.
These essays, written in the 1930s and 1940s, represent a first selection in English from the major work of the founder of the famous Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt. Horkheimer's writings are essential to an understanding of the intellectual background of the New Left and the to much current social-philosophical thought, including the work of Herbert Marcuse. Apart from their historical significance and even from their scholarly eminence, these essays contain an immediate relevance only now becoming fully recognized.