Literary Theory: An Anthology (Blackwell Anthologies) [Paperback]

Julie Rivkin (Editor), Michael Ryan (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 16, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0631200290 | ISBN-13: 978-0631200291 | Edition: Revised Edition

Literary Theory: An Anthology is a unique combination of the classic statements in criticism and the new theories that have revolutionized literary study in the past several decades.

• Provides a major collection of primary theoretical texts.
  
• Shows how theoretical discourses have evolved.
  
• Helps students to understand how to work with theory.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Rivkin (Connecticut Coll.) and Ryan (Northeastern Univ.) have designed this anthology for courses in literary theory at the graduate or at best advanced undergraduate level. Its title suggests a much more comprehensive scope than is in fact the case. There is no Aristotle here, no Sir Phillip Sidney, no Matthew Arnold. Instead, this anthology aims to include only contemporary literary theory, which means that the earliest pieces date back only to the 1920s, and many of the essays were written within the past decade. Attempting to include texts that are not commonly available, it also embraces the "heterodox and newly canonical" to provide students with a broad range of current viewpoints. The 100-plus essays and essay excerpts are grouped into ten categories, such as "Marxism," "Feminism," and "Gender Studies," with most of the introductory essays in each section written by the editors themselves. There is also a fine index. Despite a multiplicity of such anthologies, this one seems to live up to its claim that it is the most comprehensive one available. The list of essays included is available at Blackwell's website .APeter A. Dollard, Alma Coll. Lib., Mt. Pleasant, MI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

Literary Theory: An Anthology is a unique combination of the classic statements in criticism and the new theories that have revolutionized literary study in the past several decades. This unprecedented collection will be an invaluable reference tool for students interested in acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of the most recent developments in critical theory while becoming expert in the tradition from which the new theories derive.

The anthology contains classic texts from Formalism, Structuralism, Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Deconstruction, Historicism, and Feminism, and it includes cutting edge work by leading theoreticians in such field as Post-Modernism, Cultural Studies, Post-Colonial Criticism, Gay/Lesbian Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Film. The anthology constitutes the most comprehensive collection of the schools and methods that make up the very rich and exciting field of literary and cultural studies.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1246 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; Revised Edition edition (March 16, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631200290
• ISBN-13: 978-0631200291
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #584,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost incomparably superior to other anthologies, April 28, 2000

By 

Alfred E. Guy Jr. "onela22" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Literary Theory: An Anthology (Blackwell Anthologies) (Paperback)

With all apologies to Alan Lopez, I have never seen a better anthology of literary theory. I am a college faculty member, one who teaches primarily first-year students. I use literary theory in both literature and writing classes, and there is just no other book with the range of selections in this one, and no other book with such sensible, helpful introductions. Certainly there is jargon, in both the selections and in the introductions, but to simplify the texts any more would be to replace reading them with reading "Foucault for Beginners." "Foucault for Beginners" is a fun book, and even useful, but it is not an anthology of primary theory texts. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough to people who want to have selections of a workable length (neither too long to swamp you, nor too short to be unrepresentative of the original authors' projects). If you are thinking about buying this book, that means you are interested in theory. If you are interested in theory, buy this book. If you teach theory, order this book. My only hesitation about requiring this for undergraduates is the price, which is a little hefty unless you are going to be sure to use a decent size chunk of the text.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A further recommendation, October 24, 2003

By 

M. Haven "Scribbler" (LBC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Literary Theory: An Anthology (Blackwell Anthologies) (Paperback)

The strengths and weaknesses of this anthology have been thorougly hashed out by other reviewers, (particularly alopez02 & onela22) & my view of the text falls somewhere in between their 2 opinions. BUT, I would recommend _The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism_ (5 stars) over Rivkin/Ryan if you have to choose only 1 anthology: pound for pound--& I mean this literally, they both weigh in on the heavy end of the scale ;>) --you'll get more bang for your buck with the Norton's (though I own both and find it handy to use them in conjunction, 1 tome often contains different selections than the other). The Norton's contains a far more comprehensive survey extending from the classics (Plato, Horace, Aristotle, et al) to the latest postmodern theorists (Derrida, Kristeva, etc.) & hence gives a good overview not only of the individual theories themselves, but also of the development of Western critical theory.

The difficulty with any anthology, & particularly an anthology of lit crit, is there's simply too much material out there to cover in depth in 1 tome. So keep this in mind & remember that the anthology's a jumping off point for further literary study (Norton's has excellent exhaustive bibliographies on each writer included). Use it to find scholars whose theories intrigue you and then go to the source of the material to get their theories whole cloth.

Best of luck!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars one of the best anthologies available, September 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Literary Theory: An Anthology (Blackwell Anthologies) (Paperback)

This is one of the two best anthologies of literary theory available (the other is the fourth edition of RC DAvis and R. Schleiffer, Literary Criticism (Longmans).. Rivkin and Ryan's have a comprehensivce and judicious set of selections, covering all the key areas of contemporary theory, and provide useful introductoiry material.