Bringing together Mary Klages's bestselling introductory books Literary Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed and Key Terms in Literary Theory into one fully integrated and substantially revised, expanded ...

After the so-called “end of the great narratives” – according to someone synonymous with the sunset of modernity – the theoretical frameworks founded on the concept of totality have given way to a ...

Finally, the New York Times has caught up with the next dubious trend in English literature departments: neuroscience. As Patricia Cohen writes, "Zealous enthusiasm for the politically charged and ...

It has held sway in the humanities for nearly four decades, surviving even the great culture wars. But it is being used in surprising ways. Either literary theory is dead, or it’s invincible. It all ...

‘GESTALT’ is a German word which literally means ‘form’ or ‘shape’ and in psychology it is used to denote “an organised whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts”, says the Concise ...

University of Oklahoma English professor Leitch (American Literary Criticism Since the 1930s, 2nd edition) offers a spirited defense of literary theory. Defying those who feel criticism is in a ...

T hese are bad times for literary studies. The catastrophically constricted job market for English Ph.D.s conveys the culture’s contempt for professional literary scholarship in the clearest terms.

“Literary Theory for Robots,” by Dennis Yi Tenen, a software engineer turned literature professor, shows how the “intelligence” in artificial intelligence is irreducibly human. By Jennifer Szalai When ...

The status of literature - its meaning, structure, truth value, and social function - has proven, throughout history, to be surprisingly controversial, and has generated endless commentary. This class ...

From Oscar Wilde’s trial to the discourse surrounding Virginia Woolf’s affair with Vita Sackville-West, conversations about sexuality have been linked to many literary greats. But beyond the sexuality ...