Ten Lessons in Theory

by Calvin Thomas

An introduction to literary theory unlike any other, Ten Lessons in Theory engages its readers with three fundamental premises. The first premise is that a genuinely productive understanding of theory depends upon a considerably more sustained encounter with the foundational writings of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud than any reader is likely to get from the introductions to theory that are currently available. The second premise involves what Fredric Jameson describes as "the conviction that of all the writing called theoretical, Lacan's is the richest." Entertaining this conviction, the book pays more (and more careful) attention to the richness of Lacan's writing than does any other introduction to literary theory. The third and most distinctive premise of the book is that literary theory isn't simply theory "about" literature, but that theory fundamentally is literature, after all.

Ten Lessons in Theory argues, and even demonstrates, that "theoretical writing" is nothing if not a specific genre of "creative writing," a particular way of engaging in the art of the sentence, the art of making sentences that make trouble—sentences that make, or desire to make, radical changes in the very fabric of social reality.

As its title indicates, the book proceeds in the form of ten "lessons," each based on an axiomatic sentence selected from the canon of theoretical writing. Each lesson works by creatively unpacking its featured sentence and exploring the sentence's conditions of possibility and most radical implications. In the course of exploring the conditions and consequences of these troubling sentences, the ten lessons work and play together to articulate the most basic assumptions and motivations supporting theoretical writing, from its earliest stirrings to its most current turbulences.

Provided in each lesson is a working glossary: specific critical keywords are boldfaced on their first appearance and defined either in the text or in a footnote. But while each lesson constitutes a precise explication of the working terms and core tenets of theoretical writing, each also attempts to exemplify theory as a "practice of creativity" (Foucault) in itself.

326 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2013

About the author

American academic.


Librarian note: There are more authors in this database with this name. This one needs to be listed as [Calvin^^Thomas]. For the linguist , go to Calvin Thomas.

Reviews

[Shannon Finck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good, accessible introduction to theory.

[Joel Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blunt and profane

I don't know that this is a book that does justice to the subtleties of critical theories it surveys. And I think its stance is ultimately untenable. But it's certainly lively, and its predilection for extremes over moderation pulls together critical theory into a recognizable whole.

[Bart Everson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An astonishing book. A wonderful book — full of wonders, and often wonderfully infuriating. A bizarre book. Rude jokes sandwiched between abstruse concepts.

I didn't know much about "theory," had only the vaguest idea that it was "a thing" (in current parlance) and so I read this out of sheer curiosity, and I was not disappointed. I was alternately stimulated, outraged, bored, mystified and amused — sometimes on the same page. Half the time, I wanted to throw the book against the wall. Half the time, I wanted to dance with joy. Half the time (the third half) I was scratching my head, and making notes to myself to come back and study this point or that again.

Thomas pulls off a Herculean task here, tracing ideas from those old crusty Germanic dudes (Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud) through those freaky French fellows (Derrida, Foucault, and most especially Lacan, Lacan, Lacan) on up to queer theory which is presented as the current state of the art.

Some ideas presented here seemed to me blindingly obvious (though I recognize they are contested in some quarters, and so I appreciate the references all the more). In others I recognize a consonance with certain occult and/or Eastern spiritual teachings, an assertion that would surely horrify the author and most of the theorists cited herein. That's because religion is here conceived as Abrahamic only, with Buddhist thought referenced only two or three times and not even meriting an index entry. (Jesus gets more play.) Yet these Western theorists seem to have reached many of the same conclusions as Buddhist teachers. For example, the idea of anatta or no-self seems to resonate pretty strongly with the theoretical complications of self outlined here.

I want to buy a copy, now that I've returned it to the library, because there are so many references here which I imagine will be helpful in future writing of my own. If only it weren't such an expensive title.

Also, if these "theory" folks have a favorite word, it is "constitutively" which appears here with alarming frequency.

[Stephen Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compulsively readable, deeply insightful, and surprisingly uplifting introduction to theory.