Beginning Theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory (4th Ed.)

by Peter Barry 

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From the back cover: The bewildering variety of approaches, theorists, and technical language is lucidly and expertly unravelled. Unlike many books which assume certain positions about the critics and the theories they represent, Peter Barry allows readers to develop their own ideas once first principles and concepts have been grasped.

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Read the following sections within the chapters of this book to prepare for initial assessments and discussions:

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• Introduction 

• Theory before 'theory': The history of English studies

• Structuralism: Structuralist chickens and liberal humanist eggs

• Post-structuralism and deconstruction: Some theoretical differences between structuralism and post-structuralism

• Postmodernism: What is postmodernism? What was modernism?

• Psychoanalytic criticism: Introduction

• Feminist criticism: Feminism and feminist criticism

• Queer theory: Introduction

• Marxist criticism: Beginning and basics of Marxism

• New historicism and cultural materialism: New historicism (175) and Cultural materialism (184)

• Postcolonial criticism: Background

• Stylistics: Stylistics: a theory or a practice?

• Narratology: Telling stories

• Ecocriticism: Ecocriticism or green studies?

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