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This thoroughly updated third 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 and postcolonial criticism. This new edition features: a major expansion of the chapter on postcolonial criticism that includes topics such as Nordicism, globalization and the ‘end’ of postcolonial theory, global tourism and global conservation an extended explanation of each theory, using examples from everyday life, popular culture, and 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.

Critical Theory Today

• Cover


• Half Title


• Title Page


• Copyright Page


• Dedication


• Table of Contents


• Preface to the third edition


• Preface for instructors


• Acknowledgments


• 1 Everything you wanted to know about critical theory but were afraid to ask


• 2 Psychoanalytic criticism


• The origins of the unconscious


• The defenses, anxiety, and core issues


• Dreams and dream symbols


• The meaning of death


• The meaning of sexuality


• Lacanian psychoanalysis


• Classical psychoanalysis and literature


• Some questions psychoanalytic critics ask about literary texts


• ?What?s Love Got to Do with It??: a psychoanalytic reading of The Great Gatsby


• Questions for further practice: psychoanalytic approaches other literary works


• For further reading


• For advanced readers


• 3 Marxist criticism


• The fundamental premises of Marxism


• The class system in America


• The role of ideology


• Human behavior, the commodity, and the family


• Marxism and literature


• Some questions Marxist critics ask about literary texts


• You are what you own: a Marxist reading of The Great Gatsby


• Questions for further practice: Marxist approaches to other literary works


• For further reading


• For advanced readers


• 4 Feminist criticism


• Traditional gender roles


• A summary of feminist premises


• Getting beyond patriarchy


• French feminism


• Multicultural feminism


• Gender studies and feminism


• Feminism and literature


• Some questions feminist critics ask about literary texts


• ? ? next they?ll throw everything overboard ? ?: a feminist reading of The Great Gatsby


• Questions for further