Theory After Theory: An Intellectual History of Literary Theory From 1950 to the Early 21st Century

by Nicholas Birns

Theory After Theory provides an overview of developments in literary theory after 1950. It is intended both as a handbook for readers to learn about theory and an intellectual history of the recent past in literary criticism for those interested in seeing how it fits in with the larger culture. Accessible but rigorous, this book provides a wealth of historical and intellectual context that allows the reader to make sense of the movements in recent literary theory.

Genres: Nonfiction, Theory

352 pages, Paperback

Published May 31, 2010

Reviews

[Pavlina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an exhaustive reading, but one of the few up-to-date books on literary criticism. Chapters on feminism and post-colonialism read for school (useful for the thesis as well)

[Ayọ̀délé Ìbíyẹmí · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a book on intellectual history from the perspective of Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault, it is a fairly successful book. However, as a textbook on history, it is a failure.
It's a decent account of SOME EuroAmerican literary theories but it seems to have a cutoff date in the early 90s. To the author, every other theory or theoretical inclination post 1990s is suspect and seems to be doing too much.
As a Black person, I found certain parts of the books racist and offensive.