Customer Reviews

The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends

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This is certainly one of the best comprehensive anthologies of Literary criticism from Plato to postmodernism available. The only other such anthology that is worthy of comparison is the NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF THEORY AND CRITICISM (2001). Which one you prefer will be largely a matter of personal taste. They are both equally massive in size. THE CRITICAL TRADITION leaves out Augustine, Moses Maimonides, Aquinas, Giraldi, Mazzoni, and Lessing, which the NORTON includes; so I would say the NORTON's coverage of the Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance is more comprehensive. THE CRITICAL TRADITION includes, however, Shklovky's great essay on "defamiliarization," as well as an essay by Brecht, glaring omissions of the NORTON. Both anthologies omit Rene Girard, one of the most important theorists of the 20th century. THE CRITICAL TRADITION includes Clifford Geertz's great essay on "Thick Description," lacking in the Norton. THE NORTON's coverage of African-American criticism is better though. But THE CRITICAL TRADITION includes an essay by Rey Chow, one of the major players in Post-Colonial criticism. Overall, the NORTON has more authors, but whether they are better authors will depend on personal preference. A notable feature of THE CRITICAL TRADITION is the inclusion of several "dialogues" between different authors, such as Frank Lentricchia's critique of Stephen Greenblatt's New Historicism. THE NORTON includes substantial introductions to individual authors; THE CRITICAL TRADITION gives substantial introductions to the older authors, but for the modern period, they take a different approach. For each major theoretical movement (such as Reader-response or Feminism), there is a substantial (10-15 pages) essay by the editor on the movement and its leading figures; but the introductions for individual authors are omitted, except for a brief list of books published.

Annoyingly, the table of contents is hard to find, coming only after a 15 page preface. What were the editors thinking?

Both THE NORTON and THE CRITICAL TRADITION are excellent anthologies with slightly different strengths and weaknesses. They both cover many of the same authors, but for modern theorists, the editors have often chosen different selections. Graduate students and Professors of English might well want to have both.

"The Critical Tradition" provides a comprehensive mixture of classic and contemporary literary criticism. However, another reviewer has already pointed out the book's deficiencies regarding some schools of contemporary criticism.

Other problems with this book are of a more incidental nature. Considering the great price of the book, the pages are far too thin and it is difficult to underline or highlight sections. You can see the text on the other side of the page even when it is lying flat.

Another big problem is the quality of the translations for those works not originally in English. Many of the translations, esp. of the classic texts, are outdated, and more readable, contemporary translations exist. These are relatively minor quibbles, though, and as a whole, "The Critical Tradition" is a comprehensive presentation of the history of literary criticism and of contemporary schools of theory. Moreover, Richter's introductions to the authors and schools of theory are insightful and concise, and possibly the most invaluable part of the book.

A comprehensive introduction to literary theory, arranged chronologically--starts with Plato, ends with Post-Modernism. Though the texts themselves can be dense, each is prefaced with extremely helpful introductions. This is an accessible and easy to navigate anthology and I highly recommend it.

I have found this book really useful to students in all its editions. It persists, however, in omitting the significant theoretical current of body studies. The new edition has Donna Haraway's "Cyborg Manifesto"-- great. But what about cultural studies of the body, illness, and disability? This is a field that has arrived at this point, and what's more, it speaks to our students. The Norton remains head and shoulders above Richter in this regard, and for me, this is a deal-breaker.

The book was in good condition with only a little bit of writing which is what the product description said. It arrived in a timely manner and I was very pleased with the service.

Product was sent out quickly, and was as advertised. Would purchase from seller again.