Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide

This thoroughly updated third edition of Critical Theory Today offers an accessible introduction to contemporary critical theory, providing in-depth coverage of the most common approaches to literary analysis today, including: feminism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, reader-response theory, New Criticism, structuralism and semiotics, deconstruction, new historicism and cultural criticism, lesbian, gay, and queer theory, African American criticism and postcolonial criticism. This new edition features: a major expansion of the chapter on postcolonial criticism that includes topics such as Nordicism, globalization and the ‘end’ of postcolonial theory, global tourism and global conservation an extended explanation of each theory, using examples from everyday life, popular culture, and literary texts a list of specific questions critics ask about literary texts an interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby through the lens of each theory a list of questions for further practice to guide readers in applying each theory to different literary works updated and expanded bibliographies Both engaging and rigorous, this is a “how-to” book for undergraduate and graduate students new to critical theory and for college professors who want to broaden their repertoire of critical approaches to literature.