An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and TheoryDescription |
Starting at ‘the beginning’ and concluding with ‘the end’, the book covers topics that range from the familiar (character, narrative, the author) to the more unusual (secrets, pleasure, ghosts). Eschewing abstract isms, Bennett and Royle successfully illuminate complex ideas by engaging directly with literary works – so that a reading of Jane Eyre opens up ways of thinking about racial difference, whilst Chaucer, Raymond Chandler and Monty Python are all invoked in a discussion of literary laughter.  |
|
Features |
- The market-leading introduction to literature, criticism and theory, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to studying literature, and introduces theory in a non-threatening way
- Fully updated to take into account new theory - such as eco-criticism
- This new edition is supported by a companion website, which will contain additional, downloadable chapters on How to Read and How to Write
|
|
|
New to this Edition |
| This fourth edition is fully updated and revised to take into account new research and theory, including a new chapter on Eco-criticism and one on animals. This edition also benefits from an entirely new companion website, which includes two additional chapters - "How to Read" and "How to Write". |
|
|
Table of Contents |
1 The beginning
2 Readers and reading
3 The author
4 The text and the world
5 The uncanny
6 Monuments
7 Narrative
8 Character
9 Voice
10 Figures and tropes
11 Creative writing
12 Laughter
13 The tragic
14 History
15 Me
16 Eco
17 Animals
18 Ghosts
19 Moving pictures
20 Sexual difference
21 God
22 Ideology
23 Desire
24 Queer
25 Suspense
26 Racial difference
27 The colony
28 Mutant
29 The performative
30 Secrets
31 The postmodern
32 Pleasure
33 War
34 The end
Glossary
Select bibliography of other introductory texts and reference works
Literary works discussed
Bibliography of critical and theoretical works |
|
|
Back Cover |
Fresh, original and compelling, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory is the essential guide to literary studies. Starting at ‘the beginning’ and concluding with ‘the end’, the book covers topics that range from the familiar (character, narrative, the author) to the more unusual (secrets, pleasure, ghosts). Eschewing abstract isms, Bennett and Royle successfully illuminate complex ideas by engaging directly with literary works – so that a reading of Jane Eyre opens up ways of thinking about racial difference, whilst Chaucer, Raymond Chandler and Monty Python are all invoked in a discussion of literary laughter. Each chapter ends with a narrative guide to further reading and the book also includes a glossary and bibliography. The fourth edition has been revised to incorporate two timely new chapters on animals and the environment. A breath of fresh air in a field that can often seem dry and dauntingly theoretical, this book will open the reader’s eyes to the exhilarating possibilities of both reading and studying literature. Andrew Bennett is Professor of English at the University of Bristol and Nicholas Royle is Professor of English at the University of Sussex. |
|
|
Author |
Andrew Bennett is Professor of English at the University of Bristol. He has also authored Ignorance: Literature and Agnology (MUP) and Wordsworth Writing (CUP). Nicholas Royle is Professor of English at the University of Sussex. He is the author of The Uncanny (MUP) and Jacques Derrida in the Routledge Critical Thinkers Series. |
|
|