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Understanding contemporary American literary theory / Michael P. Spikes.

By: Series: Understanding contemporary American literaturePublication details: Columbia : University of South Carolina Press, ©1997.Description: 201 pages ; 19 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 1570031347
  • 9781570031342
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 801/.95/09730904 20
LOC classification:
  • PS78 .S65 1997
Other classification:
  • 18.06
Available additional physical forms:
  • Also issued online.
Contents:
Introduction : a brief history of literary theory in the twentieth century -- Paul de Man : deconstruction -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr. : Black studies -- Elaine Showalter : feminism -- Stephen Greenblatt : new historicism -- Edward W. Said : political critique -- Richard Rorty : neopragmatism.
Summary: Understanding Contemporary American Literary Theory introduces readers to the careers, key texts, and central assumptions of six critics who have significantly influenced American literary theory during the past three decades - Paul de Man; Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; Elaine Showalter; Edward W. Said; Stephen Greenblatt; and Richard Rorty. Underscoring the largely heterogeneous mix of strategies and suppositions that these critics represent, Michael P. Spikes offers concise analyses of their principal claims and illustrates how their works reflect a range of critical perspectives, from deconstruction, African American studies, and feminism to political criticism, new historicism, and neopragmatism.Summary: Spikes prefaces his study with a short history of theory and criticism in the twentieth century and then places each of the theorists within the larger context of modern criticism. He explains their specific strategies for interpreting literature, identifies the philosophical assumptions underlying those strategies, cites specific examples of how the strategies are applied to the reading of particular works, and notes possible objections to their theories. With this study Spikes renders the often-complex arguments and technical language of contemporary literary theory in accessible terms and gives readers a clear sense of the movements that have dominated the field during the past three decades.
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Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Academic Resource Center at Levitt General Stacks (LOWER Level) PS 78 .S65 1997 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 17524

Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-197) index.

Introduction : a brief history of literary theory in the twentieth century -- Paul de Man : deconstruction -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr. : Black studies -- Elaine Showalter : feminism -- Stephen Greenblatt : new historicism -- Edward W. Said : political critique -- Richard Rorty : neopragmatism.

Understanding Contemporary American Literary Theory introduces readers to the careers, key texts, and central assumptions of six critics who have significantly influenced American literary theory during the past three decades - Paul de Man; Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; Elaine Showalter; Edward W. Said; Stephen Greenblatt; and Richard Rorty. Underscoring the largely heterogeneous mix of strategies and suppositions that these critics represent, Michael P. Spikes offers concise analyses of their principal claims and illustrates how their works reflect a range of critical perspectives, from deconstruction, African American studies, and feminism to political criticism, new historicism, and neopragmatism.

Spikes prefaces his study with a short history of theory and criticism in the twentieth century and then places each of the theorists within the larger context of modern criticism. He explains their specific strategies for interpreting literature, identifies the philosophical assumptions underlying those strategies, cites specific examples of how the strategies are applied to the reading of particular works, and notes possible objections to their theories. With this study Spikes renders the often-complex arguments and technical language of contemporary literary theory in accessible terms and gives readers a clear sense of the movements that have dominated the field during the past three decades.

Also issued online.

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