The Critical Experience: Literary Reading, Writing, and Criticism [Paperback]

David Cowles (Author), Mike Austin (Author), Gregory Clark (Contributor)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Kendall Hunt Pub Co; 2 Sub edition (June 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787200123
• ISBN-13: 978-0787200121
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #562,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Austin is Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Newman University in Wichita, KS.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Intro to Critical Theory for the Rest of Us!, January 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Critical Experience: Literary Reading, Writing, and Criticism (Paperback)

This is a super introduction to various critical approaches. Unlike authors of other books of this kind, the authors of "The Critical Experience" write in easy-to-understand language rather than stilted Academian. It was probably not designed for MA students, or even for undergraduates who sit in the library, bantering about the benefits of new historicism and why relativism is impractical.
Now, as an MA student, I have found myself returning to this book on numerous occasions throughout my academic career, and sometimes it's refreshing to go to a textbook for clarification and finding it without being made to feel like a dolt because I have to look up every other word in my elegant, pretentious textbook.
Admittedly, there are moments in this book when the authors become excessively chatty (esp. in the Poststructuralist chapter) and it is maddening, but there is a lot of good information to be taken from these pages. It isn't the ultimate Critical Experience, and it doesn't set out to be. But it's not "Dick and Jane's Pop-up Book of Literary Criticism," either.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Critical Item to Remember: It's Just the Introduction, November 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Critical Experience: Literary Reading, Writing, and Criticism (Paperback)

David Cowles and other faculty at BYU have come up with a very decent introduction to critical theories. I enjoyed reading it and found its explanations helpful.

That the book is too reductive is the major complaint I've heard as I've spoken with other students who have used it. These are usually English M.A. students, though. Especially after studying more in-depth the theories that the book covers, I admit that it's reductive, but I also wonder how I would go about writing an unreductive INTRODUCTION to anything.

I think that this book can be extremely useful to students wanting to get acquainted with the general aspects of theory, and the key is that they remember that it's only an introduction.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction, September 27, 2011

By 

theoretic - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Critical Experience: Literary Reading, Writing, and Criticism (Paperback)

This book is a great introduction to many of the fundamental theories and theorists. The book does not delve deeper than the basics, but I can see this being a book I use for reference for a long time.