Product Description

What is Literary Theory? Is there a relationship between literature and culture? In fact, what is Literature, and does it matter? These are the sorts of questions addressed by Jonathan Culler in a book which steers a clear path through a subject which is often perceived to be impenetrable. It offers insights into theories about the nature of language and meaning, whether literature is a form of self-expression or a method of appeal to an audience, and outlines the ideas behind a number of different schools: deconstruction, semiotics, postcolonial theory, and structuralism amongst them.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17819 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 152 pages

Sir Frank Kermode
It is impossible to imagine a clearer treatment of the subject, or one that is, within the given limits of length, more comprehensive. Culler has always been remarkable for his expository skills, and here he has found exactly the right method and tone for his purposes. |s Sir Frank Kermode

Review
A must read for all literature students. (Bookwise )

About the Author
Jonathan Culler is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Cornell University. His many publications include Barthes and Saussure in Fontana Modern Masters, and On Deconstruction and The Pursuit of Signs.

Customer Reviews

A gentle introduction to theory
The fact that literary theory is often referred to as just 'theory' should alert the newcomer to its amorphous and unfocused nature. It is no longer concerned just with literature, but with every aspect of culture and experience. It is a theory of theories, a post-modernist stocktaking of the western intellectual tradition.

Culler traces several paths through this boundless philosophical landscape. Seven such paths actually, exploring aspects of language, identity and meaning. These constitute as gentle an introduction as is possible. In fact, it is difficult to imagine a better guide than Culler, with his clear and elegant style and his breadth of knowledge. Although this is not a conventional school-by-school primer, there is a section at the end briefly summarizing the major schools, from Russian Formalism to Queer Theory (yes, you heard right). The author advises that you can read these summaries before, after, or during the main text. I recommend leaving them until after, when they will be a lot more meaningful. Otherwise, they might frighten you off from reading the text itself.

The illustrations consist of a half-dozen or so vaguely relevant cartoons. I suppose, as this series is illustrated, OUP felt obliged to include something, even if the text had no need of it. More positively, this book is blessedly free of the typos that normally bedevil the series.

If you wish to 'dip your toe in the water' of literary theory (and be warned, it is a maelstrom) Culler's book is the perfect place to do it.

Useful
This is a short, largely jargon-free guide to literary theory, which explores the field not by school of criticism (formalism, post-structuralism, etc.), but rather by theme. This is a good approach, although it arguably leaves the reader with a slightly hazy sense of the particular theoretical contributions of people like Foucault and Barthes. But Culler writes very clearly, and this is a good starting point for exploring this area, although it would perhaps best be used in conjunction with a book like Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory or Raman Selden's Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory.

indepensible for all students and lovers of literature
Culler makes the subject of Lit. theory interesting, after generations who had to endure Gavin Ross's laborious essays on criticism this is of welcome relief. A fantastic read and as textbooks go it is stunning.