LibGuides: Classical Languages & Civilizations: Specific theories

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of Literature and Criticism by Martin Coyle This Encyclopediais the most comprehensive guide yet both to the nature and content of literature, and to literary criticism. In ninety essays by leading international critics and scholars, the volume covers both traditional topics such as literature and history, poetry, drama and the novel, and also newer topics such as the production and reception of literature. Current critical ideas are clearly and provocatively discussed, while the volume's arrangement reflects in a dynamic way the rich diversity of contemporary thinking about literature. Each essay seeks to provide the reader with a clear sense of the full significance of its subject as well as guidance on further reading. An essential work of reference, The Encyclopedia of Literature and Criticismis a stimulating guide to the central preoccupations of contemporary critical thinking about literature. Special Features * Clearly written by scholars and critics of international standing for readers at all levels in many disciplines * In-depth essays covering all aspects, traditional and new, of literary studies past and present * Useful cross-references within the text, with full bibliographical references and suggestions for further reading * Single index of authors, terms, topics
Call Number: online
ISBN: 9780203403624
Publication Date: 2002
The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory by Michael Ryan (General Editor); Gregory Castle (Volume Editor); Robert Eaglestone (Volume Editor); M. Keith Booker (Volume Editor) This is the first comprehensive multi-volume encyclopedia ofliterary and cultural theory. Arranged in three volumes coveringLiterary Theory from 1900 to 1966, Literary Theory from 1966 to thepresent, and Cultural Theory, this encyclopedia provides accessibleentries on the important concepts, theorists and trends inpost-1900 literary and cultural theory.   With explanations ofcomplex terms and important theoretical concepts, and summaries ofthe work and ideas of key figures, it is a highly informativereference work for a multi-disciplinary readership Part of the Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia ofLiterature Contains over  300 entries of 1000-7000 words written byan international cast of nearly 300 leading scholars in literaryand cultural theory Provides explanations of complex terms, important theoreticalconcepts, and tools for critical analysis Provides summaries of the work and ideas of key figures such asJacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and SlavojZizek, and many more Online version provides students and researchers with 24/7access to authoritative reference and  powerful searching,browsing and cross-referencing capabilities Special introductory price available
Call Number: PN81 .E435 2011
ISBN: 9781405183123
Publication Date: 2011
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory by Irena R. Makaryk (Editor) The last half of the twentieth century has seen the emergence of literary theory as a new discipline. As with any body of scholarship, various schools of thought exist, and sometimes conflict, within it. I.R. Makaryk has compiled a welcome guide to the field. Accessible and jargon-free, the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory provides lucid, concise explanations of myriad approaches to literature that have arisen over the past forty years. Some 170 scholars from around the world have contributed their expertise to this volume. Their work is organized into three parts. In Part I, forty evaluative essays examine the historical and cultural context out of which new schools of and approaches to literature arose. The essays also discuss the uses and limitations of the various schools, and the key issues they address. Part II focuses on individual theorists. It provides a more detailed picture of the network of scholars not always easily pigeonholed into the categories of Part I. This second section analyses the individual achievements, as well as the influence, of specific scholars, and places them in a larger critical context. Part III deals with the vocabulary of literary theory. It identifies significant, complex terms, places them in context, and explains their origins and use. Accessibility is a key feature of the work. By avoiding jargon, providing mini-bibliographies, and cross-referencing throughout, Makaryk has provided an indispensable tool for literary theorists and historians and for all scholars and students of contemporary criticism and culture.
Call Number: PN81 .E43 1993
ISBN: 9780802059147
Publication Date: 1993

Feminist theory

Literary Feminisms by Ruth Robbins; Robbins Ruth It is now almost inconceivable that students of literature can pass through universities without encountering the feminist revolution in literary theory and criticism. Feminist literary theories are pluralist, borrowing from other types of theory, such as marxism or postmodernism, but they always remain woman-centered. Courses in women's writing, literature and gender, and philosophy and literature proliferate--requiring readers to reconsider many of the basic assumptions on which the studyof literature was originally founded.
Call Number: PR119 .R63 2000
ISBN: 0312228074
Publication Date: 2000
Indigenous Feminist Narratives by Isabel Dulfano This book analyzes the literary representation of Indigenous women in Latin American letters from colonization to the twentieth century, arguing that contemporary theorization of Indigenous feminism deconstructs denigratory imagery and offers a (re)signification, (re)semantization and reinvigoration of what it means to be an Indigenous woman.
Call Number: PN98.W64 D85 2015
ISBN: 1137531304
Publication Date: 2015

Ecocriticism

The Value of Ecocriticism by Timothy Clark The Value of Ecocriticism offers a brief, incisive overview of the fast-changing field of environmental literary criticism in a bewildering age of global environmental threat. The intellectual, moral and political complexity of environmental issues, especially at the global scale (the so-called 'Anthropocene') forms a new challenge of inventiveness for both literature and criticism. Ecocriticism has been going through a period of radical change and has become a diverse and huge field on the exciting but unstable boundary between the humanities and the sciences, with a mix of cultural, political, scientific and activist strands. Its mantra is that the environmental crisis demands a reconsideration of society's basic values, constitution and purposes, and that art and literature can be vital in that work. As a leading figure in this field, Timothy Clark surveys recent developments in ecocriticism lucidly, but also sometimes critically. This book examines ecopoetics, material ecocriticism, and the ideas of world literature as well as contentious claims that we are living in a new geological epoch.
Call Number: PN98.E36 C538 2019
ISBN: 9781107095298
Publication Date: 2019
Ecocriticism and the Poiesis of Form by Aaron Moe Ecocriticism and the Poiesis of Form: Holding on to Proteus demonstrates how a fractal imagination helps one hold the form of a poem within the reaches of Deep Time, and it explores the kinship between the hazy, liminal moment when Sound becomes Syllable and the hazy, liminal moment when the sage energy of the Atom made a leap toward the gaze of the first cell, to echo Merwin. Moe distills his methodology as follows: "My work?--I point," asserted the aphorism. "That's what I do." To point, the project integrates a wide range of interdisciplinary ideas--including biosemiotics, fractals,　phi, trauma theory, the Mandelbrot Set, hyperobjects, meditative chants, Goethe's morphology, Ramanujan's summation, a spiderweb's sonic properties, and Thoreau's sense of the plant-like burgeoning force of an Atom--in order to open up multiple trajectories. In this context, the volume foregrounds the insights of poets/storytellers including Hillman, Snyder, Anzaldúa, EEC, okpik, Whitman, Dickinson, Gladding, Melville, Morrison, and Toomer, for they are most attentive to that liminal moment when the vibratory hum in language, and in the cosmos, turns kinetic. As this volume draws on a wide range of writers from many backgrounds, it allows the myriad voices to engage with one another across differences in race, gender, and ethnicity. These writers show us how, to echo Dickinson, the "Freight / Of a delivered Syllable - " can split and how the energy unleashed came from, and points us back toward, the energy (un)making the forms of Gaia.The starting point for discussing the energy of a poem can no longer begin with the human; rather, Holding on explores how the poem's energy is but a sliver of a hyperobject "massively distributed" throughout the cosmos--a sage energy that brings forth form.
Call Number: PN98.E36 M64 2019
ISBN: 9780367173753
Publication Date: 2019

New Historicism/Critical Studies

Key Concepts in Critical Cultural Studies by Linda Steiner (Editor); Clifford Christians (Editor) This volume brings together sixteen essays on key and intersecting topics in critical cultural studies from major scholars in the field. Taking into account the vicissitudes of political, social, and cultural issues, the contributors engage deeply with the evolving understanding of critical concepts such as history, community, culture, identity, politics, ethics, globalization, and technology. The essays address the extent to which these concepts have been useful to scholars, policy makers, and citizens, as well as the ways they must be rethought and reconsidered if they are to continue to be viable. Each essay considers what is known and understood about these concepts. The essays give particular attention to how relevant ideas, themes, and terms were developed, elaborated, and deployed in the work of James W. Carey, the "founding father" of cultural studies in the United States. The contributors map how these important concepts, including Carey's own work with them, have evolved over time and how these concepts intersect. The result is a coherent volume that redefines the still-emerging field of critical cultural studies. Contributors are Stuart Allan, Jack Zeljko Bratich, Clifford Christians, Norman Denzin, Mark Fackler, Robert Fortner, Lawrence Grossberg, Joli Jensen, Steve Jones, John Nerone, Lana Rakow, Quentin J. Schultze, Linda Steiner, Angharad N. Valdivia, Catherine Warren, Frederick Wasser, and Barbie Zelizer.
Call Number: online
ISBN: 9780252035067
Publication Date: 2010
Cultural Studies by Michael Ryan This hands-on survey introduces students to the diverse fields thatcomprise cultural studies, from visual culture to popular music andnew media. It can be used as a standalone text or is the perfectcompanion volume to Ryan's Cultural Studies: An Anthology. Provides a comprehensive overview of the field, fromcyberculture and digital media to fashion and new formulations ofgender identity Includes student exercises and activities for each chapter Teaches cultural analysis through practical examples andapplication Gives students across disciplines the tools to becomepractitioners of Cultural Studies and active culturalanalysts   The perfect companion volume to Ryan's Cultural StudiesAnthology (2008)
Call Number: GN357 .R93 2010
ISBN: 9781405170505
Publication Date: 2010

Post-structuralism/Deconstruction

Deconstructive Criticism by Vincent B. Leitch The ideal prelude to the study of deconstructive theory for the as-yet-uninitiated reader. Leitch uses in-depth analyses, surveys of historical background, and helpful overviews to address the questions posed by the major figures -- Saussure, Lacan, Levi-Strauss, Heidegger, Derrida, Barthes Foucault -- then penetrates and displays the subtle intricacies of their answers.
Call Number: PN 98 .D43 L4
ISBN: 0231054726
Publication Date: 1982
Acts of Literature by Jacques Derrida; Derek Attridge (Editor) An introduction to Derrida's contribution to literary studies, comprising much of Derrida's work on writers such as Shakespeare, Mallarme, Joyce and Kafka, with an introductory essay on deconstruction.
Call Number: PN98.D43 D44 1992
ISBN: 0415900565
Publication Date: 1991
Derrida: A Guide for the Perplexed by Julian Wolfreys Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to grasp, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material. Jacques Derrida is one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century. His writings, his lectures and his involvement in a number of political causes have transformed the way in which literature and cultural studies is taught yet his work is often met with incomprehension, hostility and fear. This guide provides students with a clear, unintimidating introduction to Derrida, the key concepts and ideas associated with his work and the major subjects he addresses. Without assuming any prior knowledge of Derrida's work or literary theory, the guide introduces Derrida's ideas, work, reception and his wider philosophical and critical influence. Throughout, Wolfreys refers to literature and film examples, grounding discussion of theoretical concepts in close reading of specific texts.
Call Number: B2430.D484 W654 2007
ISBN: 9780826486004
Publication Date: 2007

Reader response

The Return of the Reader by Elizabeth Freund An introduction to work on reader-response criticism which reflects on the spectrum of alternative projects which reader-oriented criticism generates.
Call Number: online
ISBN: 0416344003
Publication Date: 1987; 2003
Before Reading by Peter J. Rabinowitz
Call Number: PN 212 .R33 1987
ISBN: 0801494729
Publication Date: 1987

Queer theory

Queer Theory by Bruno Perreau In 2012 and 2013, masses of French citizens took to the streets to demonstrate against a bill on gay marriage. But demonstrators were not merely denouncing its damaging effects; they were also claiming that its origins lay in "gender theory," an ideology imported from the United States. By "gender theory" they meant queer theory in general and, more specifically, the work of noted scholar Judith Butler. Now French opponents to gay marriage, supported by the Vatican, are attacking school curricula that explore male/female equality, which they claim is further proof of gender theory's growing empire. They fear that this pro-homosexual propaganda will not only pervert young people, but destroy the French nation itself. What are the various facets of the French response to queer theory, from the mobilization of activists and the seminars of scholars to the emergence of queer media and the decision to translate this or that kind of book? Ironically, perceiving queer theory as a threat to France means overlooking the fact that queer theory itself has been largely inspired by French thinkers. By examining mutual influences across the Atlantic, Bruno Perreau analyzes changes in the idea of national identity in France and the United States. In the process, he offers a new theory of minority politics: an ongoing critique of norms is not only what gives rise to a feeling of belonging; it is the very thing that founds citizenship.
Call Number: HQ76.3.F8 P47 2016
ISBN: 9780804798860
Publication Date: 2016
The Ashgate Research Companion to Queer Theory by Noreen Giffney (Editor); Michael O'Rourke (Editor) This interdisciplinary volume of thirty original essays engages with four key concerns of queer theoretical work - identity, discourse, normativity and relationality. The terms 'queer' and 'theory' are put under interrogation by a combination of distinguished and emerging scholars from a wide range of international locations, in an effort to map the relations and disjunctions between them. These contributors are especially attendant to the many theoretical discourses intersecting with queer theory, including feminist theory, LGBT studies, postcolonial theory, psychoanalysis, disability studies, Marxism, poststructuralism, critical race studies and posthumanism, to name a few. This Companion provides an up to the minute snapshot of queer scholarship from the past two decades and identifies many current directions queer theorizing is taking, while also signposting several fruitful avenues for future research. This book is both an invaluable and authoritative resource for scholars and an indispensable teaching tool for use in the classroom.
Call Number: 9780754671350
ISBN: 9780754671350
Publication Date: 2009

Summaries, Dictionaries, and Handbooks

The Blackwell Guide to Literary Theory by Gregory Castle This student-friendly text introduces students to the history and scope of literary theory, as well as showing them how to perform literary analysis. Designed to be used alongside primary theoretical texts as an introduction to theory or alongside literary texts as a model for performing literary analysis. Presents a series of exemplary readings of particular literary texts such as Jane Eyre, Heart of Darkness, Ulysses, To the Lighthouse and Midnight's Children. Provides a brief history of the rise of literary theory in the twentieth century, in order that students understand the historical contexts for different theories. Presents an alphabetically organized series of entries on key figures and publications, from Adorno to Žižek. Features descriptions of the major movements in literary theory, from critical theory through to postcolonial theory.
Call Number: PN94 .C38 2007
ISBN: 0631232729
Publication Date: 2007
The Theory Toolbox by Jeffrey Nealon; Susan Searls Giroux This text involves students in understanding and using the "tools" of critical social and literary theory from the first day of class. It is an ideal first introduction before students encounter more difficult readings from critical and postmodern perspectives. Nealon and Searls Giroux describe key concepts and illuminate each with an engaging inquiry that asks students to consider deeper and deeper questions. Written in students' own idiom, and drawing its examples from the social world, literature, popular culture, and advertising, The Theory Toolbox offers students the language and opportunity to theorize rather than positioning them to respond to theory as a reified history of various schools of thought. Clear and engaging, it avoids facile description, inviting students to struggle with ideas and the world by virtue of the book's relentless challenge to common assumptions and its appeal to common sense. Updated throughout, the second edition of The Theory Toolbox includes a discussion of new media, as well as two new chapters on life and nature.
Call Number: online
ISBN: 9780742570498
Publication Date: 2012
A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory by J. A. Cuddon; M. A. R. Habib (Revised by); Matthew Birchwood (Associate Editor); Martin Dines (Associate Editor); Shanyn Fiske (Associate Editor); Vedrana Velickovic (Associate Editor) With new entries and sensitive edits, this fifth edition places J.A. Cuddon's indispensable dictionary firmly in the 21st Century. Written in a clear and highly readable style Comprehensive historical coverage extending from ancient times to the present day Broad intellectual and cultural range Expands on the previous edition to incorporate the most recent  literary terminology New material is particularly focused in areas such as gender studies and queer theory, post-colonial theory, post-structuralism, post-modernism, narrative theory, and cultural studies. Existing entries have been edited to ensure that topics receive balanced treatment
Call Number: online
ISBN: 9781118326015
Publication Date: 2012

Critical Race Theory

Critical Race Theory (Third Edition) by Richard Delgado; Jean Stefancic; Angela Harris (Foreword by) Updated to include the Black Lives Matter movement, the presidency of Barack Obama, the rise of hate speech on the Internet, and more. Since the publication of the first edition of Critical Race Theory in 2001, the United States has lived through two economic downturns, an outbreak of terrorism, and the onset of an epidemic of hate directed against immigrants, especially undocumented Latinos and Middle Eastern people.  On a more hopeful note, the country elected and re-elected its first black president and has witnessed the impressive advance of gay rights.    As a field, critical race theory has taken note of all these developments, and this primer does so as well.  It not only covers a range of emerging new topics and events, it also addresses the rise of a fierce wave of criticism from right-wing websites, think tanks, and foundations, some of which insist that America is now colorblind and has little use for racial analysis and study.   Critical Race Theory is essential for understanding developments in this burgeoning field, which has spread to other disciplines and countries. The new edition also covers the ways in which other societies and disciplines adapt its teachings and, for readers wanting to advance a progressive race agenda, includes new questions for discussion, aimed at outlining practical steps to achieve this objective. 
Call Number: KF4755 .D454 2017
ISBN: 9781479846368
Publication Date: 2017
Critical Race Theory Matters by Margaret Zamudio; Christopher Russell; Jacquelyn L. Bridgeman; Francisco Rios Over the past decade, Critical Race Theory (CRT) scholars in education have produced a significant body of work theorizing the impact of race and racism in education. Critical Race Theory Mattersprovides a comprehensive and accessible overview of this influential movement, shining its keen light on specific issues within education. Through clear and accessible language, the authors synthesize scholarship in the field, highlight major themes and assumptions, and examine strategies of resistance and practices for challenging the existing inequalities in education. By linking theory to everyday practices in today's classroom, students will understand how CRT is relevant to a host of timely topics, from macro-policies such as Bilingual Education and Affirmative Action to micro-policies such as classroom management and curriculum. Moving beyond identifying problems into the realm of problem solving, Critical Race Theory Mattersis a call to action to put into praxis a radical new vision of education in support of equality and social justice.
Call Number: LC212.2 .C76 2011
ISBN: 9780415996730
Publication Date: 2010

Formalism

New Formalisms and Literary Theory by Verena Theile (Editor); Linda Tredennick (Editor) Bringing together scholars who have critically followed New Formalism's journey through time, space, and learning environment, this collection of essays both solidifies and consolidates New Formalism as a burgeoning field of literary criticism and explicates its potential as a varied but viable methodology of contemporary critical theory.
Call Number: PN98.F6 N49 2013x
ISBN: 9781137010483
Publication Date: 2013
Formalism and Marxism by Tony Bennett Includes a new afterword and updated bibliography that acknowledges changes which have occurred in the field since original publication
Call Number: BH 41 .B45
ISBN: 0416708706
Publication Date: 1979

Marxist

Criticism and Ideology by Terry Eagleton
Call Number: PN98.C6 E2
ISBN: 9780391006645
Publication Date: 1976
Marxist Literary Theory by Terry Eagleton; Drew Milne (Editors)
Call Number: PN98.C6M28 1996
ISBN: 0631185798
Publication Date: 1996

Postcolonial criticism

Orientalism by Edward W. Said More than three decades after its first publication, Edward Said's groundbreaking critique of the West's historical, cultural, and political perceptions of the East has become a modern classic. In this wide-ranging, intellectually vigorous study, Said traces the origins of "orientalism" to the centuries-long period during which Europe dominated the Middle and Near East and, from its position of power, defined "the orient" simply as "other than" the occident. This entrenched view continues to dominate western ideas and, because it does not allow the East to represent itself, prevents true understanding. Essential, and still eye-opening, Orientalism remains one of the most important books written about our divided world.
Call Number: DS12 .S24 1994
ISBN: 9780394740676
Publication Date: 1979; 1994
After Said by Bashir Abu-Manneh (Editor) By the time of his death in 2003, Edward Said was one of the most famous literary critics of the twentieth century. Said's work has been hugely influential far beyond academia. As a prominent advocate for the Palestinian cause and noted cultural critic, Said redefined the role of the public intellectual. This volume explores the problems and opportunities afforded by Said's work: its productive and generative capacities as well as its in-built limitations. After Said captures the essence of Said's intellectual and political contribution and his extensive impact on postcolonial studies. It examines his legacy by critically elaborating his core concepts and arguments. Among the issues it tackles are humanism, Orientalism, culture and imperialism, exile and the contrapuntal, realism and postcolonial modernism, world literature, Islamophobia, and capitalism and the political economy of empire. It is an excellent resource for students, graduates and instructors studying postcolonial literary theory and the works of Said.
Call Number: PN75.S25 A48 2019
ISBN: 9781108453219
Publication Date: 2018

Psychoanalytic criticism

Literature and Psychoanalysis by Jeremy Tambling Literature and Psychoanalysis is an exciting, and compulsive working through of what Freud really said, and why it is so important, with a chapter on Melanie Klein and object relations theory, and two chapters on Lacan, and his work on the unconscious as structured like a language. Investigating different forms of literature through a careful examination of Shakespeare, Blake, the Sherlock Holmes stories, and many other examples from literature, the book makes the argument for taking literature and psychoanalysis together, and essential to each other. The book places both literature and psychoanalysis into the context of all that has been said about these subjects in recent debates in the theory of Derrida and Foucault and Zizek, and into the context of gender studies and queer theory.
Call Number: PN56.P92 T35 2012
ISBN: 9780719086731
Publication Date: 2012
The Poetics of Psychoanalysis by Mary Jacobus The Poetics of Psychoanalysis: In the Wake of Klein explores the literary aspects of the twentieth-century psychoanalytic tradition that has come to be known as British Object Relations psychoanalysis. Focusing on Melanie Klein's legacy to psychoanalysis between the 1930s and 1970s, it dealswith major figures such as Riviere, Isaacs, Winnicott, Milner, and Bion, as well as Klein's contemporary, Ella Sharpe. Mary Jacobus breaks new ground by giving a central place to the literary and aesthetic concerns of the British Object Relations tradition. Paying close attention to writing that isoften side-lined by literary critics and theorists, she makes fruitful connections with particular works of literature and art, along with pressing contemporary issues. The three sections focus on the transitions, mediations, and transformations that took place in British Object Relations psychoanalysis as Klein's ideas were developed and transformed. Situating Kleinian thought in relation to later developments and differences, while making it accessible tonon-psychoanalytic readers, The Poetics of Psychoanalysis argues against the separation of British and continental traditions and for the continuing links between psychoanalysis and aesthetics. Rather than applying psychoanalytic ideas to literature and aesthetics, the book traces the British ObjectRelations tradition as a form of proto-modernist discourse in its own right. Linked by a common thread of ideas and structured to reflect a roughly chronological trajectory, individual chapters can also be read as free-standing critical essays. Aimed at literary readers, this book will also be ofinterest to psychoanalytic practitioners and cultural theorists.
Call Number: PN56.P92 J335 2005
ISBN: 9780199246366
Publication Date: 2006

Structuralism/Semiotics

French Structuralism by Roland A. Champagne Provides an introduction to the history and influence of French structuralism in literature.
Call Number: online
ISBN: 0805782621
Publication Date: 1990
American Structuralism by D. Hymes; J. G. Fought
Call Number: P 146 .H95 1981
ISBN: 9027934282
Publication Date: 1979