“Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory” by Peter Barry is a book that presents literary and cultural theory in a systematic, simple and coherent way. The book provides clear explanations and demonstrations of 12 important critical and cultural theories, the main ones include: Structuralism, Post Structuralism, Post Modernism, Psychoanalytic Criticism, Feminism, Lesbian/gay criticism, Marxist criticism, New historicism, Postcolonial Criticism, Stylistics, Narratology and Ecocriticism. Each theory has been explained in a separate chapter and each chapter explains the principal ideas of the respective approach, talks about what that type of critic does, offers examples and puts forward questions to the reader.
The book is presented in a clear, succinct and structured way. There is a clear contents page that provides the page number, title and the specific contents (with the use of subheadings) of each chapter in the book. Barry also provides an annotated bibliography that is extremely effective in presenting additional texts that can offer better detail on the concepts and theories discussed in the book. The specific subheadings in each chapter are a huge advantage as it breaks down the explanation and doesn’t seem like long ‘drone on’ on a subject that is already difficult to grasp. The use of subheadings also makes it easier for the reader to go back to any particular section of a certain approach that they would like to review or understand; almost like a textbook. Every chapter in the book is written in an analogous pattern. Furthermore, Barry makes it even simpler for the reader by including ‘checklists’ in every chapter, for example, “What structuralist critics do?” or “what Freudian psychoanal...
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...of this was in the Post-Structuralism “Stop and Think” section where there was too much explanation “Derrida” instead of asking questions.
“Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory” is a book that gives a complete overview of literary theory. The book introduces a variety of concepts and theorists in a very coherent but detailed way. The book’s strengths are that they allow the reader to build their own views and ideas about the various theories after understanding the explanation provided by Barry. There are no major limitations with the book and overall it is fantastic for anyone learning or interested in literary theory. It can be regarded as the perfect guide to Literary and Cultural Theory.
Bibliography
1. Peter Barry, Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, Third Edition, Manchester University Press, 2009.
Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. 2nd ed. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1995. 158-168. Print.
Lee, Debbie. Literary Analysis Sample Essay. 18 August 2000. Online. Internet. 29 November 2000. Available http://open.dtcc/cc/nc/us/eng135/sample.html
Probst, Robert, et al. "Elements of Literature sixth course literature of Britain." Austin: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1997. 640-644.
Rice, Philip. and Patricia Waugh, eds. Modern Literary Theory. 4th ed. New York: Oxford UP,
Booth, Alison, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Shorter 9th ed. New York: Norton, 2006. A7
Parker, Robert Dale. How to Interpret Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies. New York: Oxford, 2011. Print.
Selden, Raman, and Peter Widdowson. A Reader’s Guide To Contemporary Literary Theory. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1993.
Parker, Robert Dale. How to Interpret Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.
Beers, Kylene. Elements of Literature. Vol. 5. Austin, [Tex.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2009. Print.]
Staton, Shirley F. Literary Theories In Praxis. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
Barry, P. (2009) Beginning theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory. 3rd edn. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 216.
Parker, Robert Dale. Critical Theory: A Reader for Literary and Cultural Studies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012 . Print.
Postmodern literary criticism asserts that art, author, and audience can only be approached through a series of mediating contexts. "Novels, poems, and plays are neither timeless nor transcendent" (Jehlen 264). Even questions of canon must be considered within a such contexts. "Literature is not only a question of what we read but of who reads and who writes, and in what social circumstances...The canon itself is an historical event; it belongs to the history of the school" (Guillory 238,44).
Mays, Kelly J. “The Norton Introduction to Literature.” New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. Book. 592-638. October 27, 2013.
Literary criticism is used as a guideline to help analyze, deconstruct, interpret, or even evaluate literary works. Each type of criticism offers its own methods that help the reader to delve deeper into the text, revealing all of its innermost features. New Criticism portrays how a work is unified, Reader-Response Criticism establishes how the reader reacts to a work, Deconstructive Criticism demonstrates how a work falls apart, Historical Criticism illustrates how the history of the author and the author’s time period influence a text, and last of all, Psychological Criticism expresses how unconscious motivations drive the author in the creation of their work as well as how the reader’s motivations influence their own interpretation of the text (Lynn 139, 191). This creates a deep level of understanding of literature that simply cannot be gained through surface level reading. If not one criticism is beneficial to the reader, then taking all criticisms or a mixture of specific criticisms into consideration might be the best way to approach literary