Literary Theory: The Complete Guide

by Mary Klages

Bringing together Mary Klages's bestselling introductory books Literary A Guide for the Perplexed and Key Terms in Literary Theory into one fully integrated and substantially revised, expanded and updated volume, this is an accessible and authoritative guide for anyone entering the often bewildering world of literary theory for the first time.

Literary The Complete Guide

· Accessible chapters on all the major schools of theory from deconstruction through psychoanalytic criticism to Marxism and postcolonialism
· New chapters introducing ecocriticism, affect theory and biopolitics
· Expanded and updated guides to feminist theory, queer theory, postmodernism and globalization
· New and fully integrated extracts of theoretical and literary texts to guide students through their use of theory
· Accessible coverage of major theorists such as Saussure, Freud, Lacan, Foucault, Cixous, Deleuze and Guattari and Bhabha

Each chapter now includes reflection questions for class discussion or independent study and a cross-referenced glossary of key terms covered, as well as updated guides to further reading on each topic. Literary The Complete Guide is an essential starting point for students of critical theory.

Genres: Nonfiction

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Lama Hussein · Rating 4 out of 5]

أشعر بالنبض في رأسي

الكتاب يشرح مجموعة من النظريات الأدبية ثم يريك كيف يمكن أن تطبقها على هاملت

أكاديمي يحتاج إلى تركيز، خاصة أنني جديدة على كل مواضيعه

[Gavin Meisels · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really glad my professor chose this book to be the textbook for our Critical and Cultural Theory class. The book is concise and is a good introduction to the many fields of critical theories. The only constructive criticism of the book I have is that Klages says "he and she" when they could just use the "they/them" pronoun for a more concise and accurate description of the differing gender identities outside of the heteronormative ways in defining gender.

[emmareadsbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my textbook for my theory class, and I really liked it. It provided a good basis for learning different theories/theorists. I do wish there weren’t so many references to Hamlet because I haven’t read it, but I still enjoyed having this as a textbook

[Alyse Bensel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm using this book as recommended/supplemental reading for my undergraduate literary theory course (I want students to read the primary text but I am very aware how much secondary contextualization can help them better understand those texts). Based on student feedback, this book has been highly valuable to my students and has helped me with lesson planning. However, some chapters try to group too many theorists together, and the use of Hamlet is sometimes a little forced depending on the critical lens being used. Overall, though, this is the best secondary literary theory book out there, and it's affordable.

[Addy Beimford]

I just finished reading this and I LOVED it—I would recommend Klages not only to people trying to understand basic literary theory, but anyone who wants to get a basic grasp on people like Marx and Freud as well. So helpful as an accompaniment to our more dense texts, made me wish I could be a UC Boulder student so Mary Klages could be my actual prof 🥰

[R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was a part of advanced criticism material course that I enrolled in. I reread it with chapters that weren't included.
This book is largely comprehensive & so fun to read. The language is too easy, I think I would enjoy non colloquial words but it's fine.

[Paulo F. Lopes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livro incrível, assuntos e temas muito bem expostos, grande fonte de informação acerca das principais teorias literárias. Uma óptima introdução à disciplina de Teoria da Literatura.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Precise, thorough, and engaging. I so much admired the flavours herein presented.

[Jessi Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really comprehensive and entertaining.

[Cure Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book annoys me, but because of it, I might declare a psychology minor, so...

[reese ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆]

i didn’t technically finish this, but i read so much of it i deserve some kind of credit. i’ll always use this as a reference in my lit theory studies, the most helpful book ive bought for a class!

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

From gender to race, from ideology to discourse, Klage’s work explores the breadth of literary theory while providing sufficient depth. At the heart of this work is the motivation to move away from centres and binaries, to be critical of hegemony and hierarchies. One does puzzle over all the analysis of Hamlet, but other than that, it is a fine work that discusses the anti-text, the monological and dialogue and much more!