Reddit Reddit reviews Literary Theory: An Anthology, 2nd Edition

We found 7 Reddit comments about Literary Theory: An Anthology, 2nd Edition. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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Literary Theory: An Anthology, 2nd Edition
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7 Reddit comments about Literary Theory: An Anthology, 2nd Edition:

u/selfabortion · 5 pointsr/AskLiteraryStudies

Definitely have a working knowledge of Psychoanalytic theory as it pertains to literary criticism. This was a pretty important influence on Joyce as well as many other writers associated with Modernism.

Poststructuralism is probably the other most important school that comes to mind that would make for an ideal lens through which to discuss the book, particularly in light of how much it subverts received forms that were "permissible" for the novel. However, both Structuralism and Post- would yield worthwhile understandings of the text. When I say "ideal" however, you should understand that even more recent schools of literary theory that were developed long after "Ulysses" can be just as interesting to retroactively examine a book. (Structuralism would have been roughly contemporary, while Post- would have been a bit after and is usually associated with Postmodernism).

I think if you aren't especially versed in a particular theoretical approach, Rivkin and Ryan's "Literary Theory: An Anthology" is a great introduction to most of the fields of literary criticism, though it probably doesn't have much on the most recent developments. It ends at Hypertext Theory, with which you could probably do some interesting things on Ulysses.

Part of the difficulty of cherry-picking some of these is that it's a little easier to follow them if you're studying them chronologically, because many schools of thought are either evolutions of or reactions to those that came before. The Anthology I posted above covers them in chronological order in a way that I found very helpful when I was studying as an undergrad.

It might be a worthwhile exercise to read a chapter in Ulysses, then read a particular literary theory in the anthology and analyze the chapter through that, then move onto the next chapter and theory, etc.

u/EddieVisaProphet · 4 pointsr/CriticalTheory

If you want really excellent intro books then I definitely recommend Lois Tyson's Critical Theory Today. This has all the really important schools that are important right now, except eco-criticism, which is kind of a bummer. But I think the latter edition hits a little bit on it under postcolonial theory. This is a good intro text that has overview of what's going on.

Norton Anthology of Critical Theory was mentioned, and while this is an excellent anthology, it's huge and can be a bit complicated to read the actual source material without knowing about it before hand, but it's pretty nice being able to read the actual texts of different theorists. Similar to this is Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan's Literary Theory: An Anthology. While Norton's goes chronologically all the way back to Plato, Rivkin's text groups all the texts under the major schools so you get a comprehensive view of each one. It's worth mentioning though that Norton does have a secondary Table of Contents where they group the readings under school as well.

You mentioned wanting to know postmodernism, and that's another thing that Tyson's text doesn't include, as it's more of a movement instead of a criticism. An intro text similar to Tyson's that does include eco-criticism and postmodernism though is Peter Barry's Beginning Theory.

If you have very little knowledge of theory and criticism, I'd really recommend picking up Tyson's book and reading that so you get an overview of the text before moving on to an anthology. Like I said, the texts can be incredibly dense and difficult to read, and if you've never been exposed to them before it'll just make it even more difficult. Tyson's text also has suggested readings under each school as well to expand what you're reading.

u/pourawaytheocean · 2 pointsr/AskLiteraryStudies

If you're into postmodernism then Baudrillard's 'Simulacra and Simulation' which questions reality and its representation.
Also, Shklovsky's 'Art as a Technique', which focuses on how art / literature 'defamiliarises' the habitual nature of life, it is really interesting.
You can get course books on literary theory, I used this one for my undergrad:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Literary-Theory-Anthology-Blackwell-Anthologies/dp/1405106964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368545296&sr=8-1&keywords=julie+rivkin+and+michael+ryan
They use excerpts from useful theory to make it easier to read, might be worth a look into.

u/reassemblethesocial · 2 pointsr/AskLiteraryStudies

A few more come to mind, less literature but more about stylistic and analytic skills you'll require in your advanced years in the Humanities.

People say to read a good style guide like Strunk & White, which is just okay. But I'd highly recommend Pinker's A Sense of Style--he also unpacks some of the problems with Strunk & White's core edicts.

Stanley Fish is just a great person to read in general. From his op-ed stuff in the NY Times to his class How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One. I'd also highly recommend reading the full introduction of the Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism or the introduction to Rifkin & Ryan's Literary Theory: An Anthology. When it comes to the lit theory stuff there are some good torrents with a lot of anthologies and canonical texts lumped together as PDFs. I also find a lot of good stuff with my Scribd membership.



u/seanofthebread · 1 pointr/CriticalTheory

Starter texts! Here's several in a book. An overview of the Critical Theory game.

u/AnonymousAurele · 1 pointr/lgbt

There's some interesting reading in Literary Theory: An Anthology.

u/Malo-Geneva · 1 pointr/AskLiteraryStudies

The Norton Anthology isn't something I'd rush to get my hands on--it's about 2000p. of size 4font...

Maybe try this one? Used it at undergrad level in an intro course and it's pretty good. http://www.amazon.com/Literary-Theory-Anthology-Julie-Rivkin/dp/1405106964