This thoroughly updated fourth 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, postcolonial criticism and ecocriticism.
This new edition features:
- A brand new chapter on ecocriticism including analysis of animals in literary studies, ecofeminism and an ecocritical reading of The Great Gatsby
- Considerable updates to the chapters on feminist theory, African American theory, and LGBTQ theories, including the terminology and theoretical concepts
- an extended explanation of each theory, using examples from everyday life, popular culture, and a variety of 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.