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.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Nonfiction, Criticism, Theory, Reference, Academic

356 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Billie Pritchett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers various reading strategies in literary theory. They are: critical theory, cultural studies, deconstruction, ethnic studies, feminist theory, gender and sexuality, marxist theory, narrative theory, new criticism, new historicism, postcolonial studies, postmodernism, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, reader-response theory, structuralism, and formalism. If memory serves, Castle believes that among these reading strategies, two types of focus exist, namely the focus on the form of the literary work, as with, for example, structuralism, or the content of the work, as with, for example, marxist theory. Gregory Castle's book satisfactorily presented the range of reading strategies, but failed in some cases to explain the arguments of some of the figures who advanced a given strategy. Castle cannot bear too much blame, though, since, in my view, some of these theorists' arguments are incoherent. Anyway, this was a far more comprehensive and illuminating read than Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory: An Introduction.

[G.D. Master · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is not unusual to find The Blackwell Guide to Literary Theory in university libraries. There is good reason for that. While its language may rise above the intellectual capabilities of a novice to literary theory, its scope of such a technical and far ranging field should be enough to get most people, with a serious interest in literary criticism, started. This guide is by no means comprehensive of literary theory or literary criticism, as if there could be such a thing. What this guide is good at, is giving students and professionals a place to begin their research before applying it. Knowing what information, and where it is, may be the largest part of a project. This guide is divided into four parts: history of literary theory, literary theories and their general scopes, key figures in literary theory, and applied literary theory. With this guide readers can trace the progression of literary theories through history and begin to see how some of them blend with others, or how one theory developed from the inconsistencies of another. The general scope of the most common and developed theories gives people a place to start and begin to understand the reasoning behind how some critics approach a text. Key figures in literary theory, describes the people who developed some the most accepted theories and references their groundbreaking works. Selected bibliographies at the end of each “key figure” offer landmark texts important to researching selected theories, important for students and professionals writing conference papers. The examples of applied theory at the end of the guide help people understand how theory is applied to texts and used to write about them. The applied theory section of the guide is its most lacking feature. Examples are generalized and theories are blended too extensively for comprehensive use. While the examples in this section have a degree of useful application for critical technique, they do not give people a template or absolute way of matching theories to texts. It is up to the writer, critic, and reader to determine what theories work with their texts and how these theories are working with their texts. These theories and how readers apply them to texts, how readers defend such theories with texts, are how criticism and research papers come into existence. For anybody interested in literary theory and criticism, The Blackwell Guide to Literary Theory is a great place to start. It is up to readers and writers to decide where they finish.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good overview of the individual schools of theory and the individual theorists. It's not written as much for the beginner as others I've read. For me, it was a great refresher course. I always recommend the Norton's Anthology of Theory and Criticism for the actual works, but Castle does a solid job of grappling with the theory, enough so that I felt as though I remember the main points of each and could return to the primary texts with confidence.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

One star off for gratuitous word usage, such as "utterance" for speech, and for the occasional lack of clarity.

[Patricia Lucido · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never wanted to cry so much.

#Lit101

[Akram · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, but laborious.