Product Description

Key Concepts in Literary Theory presents the student of literary and critical studies with a broad range of accessible, precise and authoritative definitions of the most significant terms and concepts currently used in psychoanalytic, poststructuralist, Marxist, feminist, and postcolonial literary studies. The volume also provides clear and useful discussions of the main areas of literary, critical and cultural theory, supported by bibliographies and an expanded chronology of major thinkers. Accompanying the chronology are short biographies of major works by each critic or theorist. The new edition of this reliable reference work is both revised and expanded, including: * More than 70 additional terms and concepts defined, from Absurdism and Aga Saga to Writerly texts and Zeugma. * Newly defined terms include keywords from the social sciences, cultural studies and psychoanalysis and the addition of a broader selection of classical rhetorical terms. * An expanded chronology, with additional entries and a broader historical and cultural range, from Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel, to Camille Paglia and bell hooks. * Expanded bibliographies including key texts by major critics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #368692 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From the Publisher
Features:
Provides clear definitions of 300 terms in literary theory and criticism.

Provides readers with a range of essential literary concepts and period terms, including 'irony', 'existentialism', 'symbolism' and 'modernism'. Concentrates on literary criticism and theory from 'aporia' and 'liminality' to 'phallocentrism' and 'simulacra'.

Reflects contemporary literary theory's rapidly changing terminology and looks to the future shape of literary theory in entries from 'technoscience' and 'cyberwar' to 'mnemotechnic' and 'digitality'.

provides two accompanying reference sections:
- Areas of Literary, Critical and Cultural study, which provides definitions of the significant movements and critical approaches within twentieth-century critical study, from Archetypal Criticism to Textual Criticism, each of which is accompanied by a bibliography of suggested reading.

- A Chronology of Critics, which covers thinkers from Karl Marx to Judith Butler, each entry being accompanied by a brief bibliography.

About the Author
Julian Wolfreys is Professor of Modern Literature and Culture with the Department of English and Drama at Loughborough University. Ruth Robbins is Senior Lecturer in English at Leeds Metropolitan University.