Customer Reviews

Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature With Critical Theory

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In reviewing this book, I'm reminded about the famous quote that democracy is the worst form of government except for every other one.

The task of taking a large, complex topic such as critical theory and presenting it in primer fashion makes it inevitable that there will be places where the more knowledgeable or experienced reader feels like the person undertaking that task is being reductive. And it would be easy enough to pick on the book's idiosyncrasies: the psychoanaltyic chapter is too narrowly Freudian, the deconstruction chapter has trouble explaining how the practice (explained fine) developed from the theory, the reader-response chapter neglects later responses to some initial criticisms of the theory.

But these are the sorts of complaints that will be levied by those who aren't the target audience, and to make them is to wish for a book that is both an introduction for undergraduates and a more thorough encyclopedia for scholars. The book isn't trying to be the latter.

As an introductory work, Texts and Contexts is actually pretty good. The prose is clear and avoids overloading students with too much jargon or too many technical terms too quickly. It is also one of the few primers I've run across that tries to address practice rather than just theory--that tries to show what a _______ critic does rather than just what _______ criticism is.

Another plus is that the bibliographies at the end of each chapter, while short, are very serviceable, and provide students with a list of key readings in each area of criticism that can help them get started at being more thorough in the area in which they are most interested in.

If there is one thing I seriously hate about the book it is that it is one of those "designed to be text"books that comes out in a new edition every other year. I've had every edition since the second, and the changes are pretty superficial. (As I right this, it's now in the fifth edition.) Unless absolutely required (say by a professor) to buy the latest edition, readers would be better served to get a used, older edition on Amazon--they are usually less than a quarter of the price of the new edition.

A number of years back, Mortimer Adler, he of the Paedeia Program and the wonderful Great Books Series, probably the last publically successful canonical venture before we starting deconstructing the canon, wrote a bestseller which was at the time regarded as a classic: "How To Read a Book". Lynn has written the book that Adler was trying to write.

After years spent reading and teaching the humanities, I've learned that we don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about how we read. That conclusion, in simple, funky Americanese, is, in as many words, what, I think, Jacques Derrida was trying to say in a lot more. And if words are, in a sense, metaphors, it's that much more imperative that we get a handle on our method of reading, that we become mindful of our processes of comprehension. Teaching mindful comprehension, a method of reading that sticks, is the main task of college level pedagogy in the humanities.

Lynn's book is a masterpiece of organization and concision. He begins by briefly describing the seven + basic approaches to reading which, in contemporary academic parlance, go under the rubric of critical theory, and then proceeds to devote a chapter to each, examining, in simple, clear, and accessible terms and demonstrations, what value the particular approach under discussion has for understanding the text.

Lynn's writing is lucid, accessible, exemplary. His citations are edifying, central. His examples are, well . . . textbook. The book as a whole is remarkably comprehensive in a svelte, easy-to-hand, state-of-the-art format. I challenge Freshman English or Language Arts instructors to find better than what we have here.

I use this book to introduce literary theory to my AP high school seniors. The explanations of the theories are accessible, the sample essays provide great models, and the suggested strategies for critical writing effectively allow my students to engage with both work and theory. Impressive... AND the author maintains a sense of humor which adds to the readability. Wow!

This is a well written textbook. I hadn't thought much about the different types of critical theories for reading literature. This textbook clears gives a boost to slogging through some of the more obscure writing.

For $60 I would have expected the pages to be thick enough to handle a highlighter, but of coarse the pages soak up the ink like toilet paper. The cover art is flaky and easily shows signs of wear. If you're a student, and plan to sell this book back at the end of the semester, I wouldn't carry it in your backpack to much. The book itself is easy to understand and has many good bits of information.

Reading this book makes you feel like you are reading a story book. Its that engaging and interesting. The more you read, the more you can see how much you really didn't pay attention to while reading. A must read!

I ordered a new copy of this book that was supposed to include an access code for myliteraturelab.com but does not. Evidently, I will have to buy it separately for $33.00. Therefore, there are no savings, no customer service to help with this issue and, most importantly, NO REASON TO BUY FROM AMAZON. (That is, of course, unless you love hassles and have time to mess with these problems while going to school. Adios, Amazon. Thanks for nothing.