Synopses & Reviews
Praise for An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory Sparkling, enthusiastic, and admirably well-informed' - HélèneCixous 'By far the best introduction we have, bar none. This unmatched book is for everyone: from those beginning literary study, through advanced students, and up to teachers; even those who, like me, have been professing literature for years and years' - J. Hillis Miller, UCI Distinguished Research Professor of Comparative Literature and English and the University of California, Irvine The best introduction to literary studies on the market
- Jonathan Culler, Cornell University
The most un-boring, unnerving, unpretentious textbook Ive ever come across
- Elizabeth Wright, University of Cambridge
It is by far the best and most readable of all such introductions that I know of
The treatment of the various topics is masterful, even-handed and informative. I cannot think of a better introduction for undergraduates, to be sure, but for many graduate students too.
- Hayden White, University of California at Santa Cruz
I dont know of any book that could, or does, compete with this one. It is irreplaceable
- Richard Rand, University of Alabama
[Bennett and Royle have] cracked the problem of how to be introductory and sophisticated, accessible but not patronising.
- Peter Buse, English Subject Centre Newsletter
This excellent book is very well-written and an outstanding introduction to literary studies. An extremely stimulating introduction.
- Robert Eaglestone, Royal Holloway, University of London
Bennett and Royle offer a different kind of introduction, which directly involves the reader in the problems and pleasures of thinking about literature its distinctiveness, its strangeness, its power, its inexhaustibility
They succeed brilliantly in encouraging readers who are new to theory to appreciate its importance, enjoy its revelations, and understand some of its conceptual apparatus without diminishing the centrality of literary writing itself, This is a book which students in every introductory course on criticism and theory would benefit from having.
- Derek Attridge, University of York
I am convinced that Bennett and Royle have written a pathbreaking work and I suspect that this book so full of laughter, suspense, secrets and pleasure will have an appeal beyond a strictly academic audience.
- Alan Shima, University of Gothenburg
All the chapters in the volume are illuminating, informative, and original.
- Robert Mills, Kings College London
Fresh, original and compelling, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory is the essential guide to literary studies.
Starting at the beginning and concluding with the end, the book covers topics that range from the familiar (character, narrative, the author) to the more unusual (secrets, pleasure, ghosts). Eschewing abstract isms, Bennett and Royle successfully illuminate complex ideas by engaging directly with literary works so that a reading of Jane Eyre opens up ways of thinking about racial difference, whilst Chaucer, Raymond Chandler and Monty Python are all invoked in a discussion of literary laughter.
Each chapter ends with a narrative guide to further reading and the book also includes a glossary and bibliography. The fourth edition has been revised to incorporate two timely new chapters on animals and the environment.
A breath of fresh air in a field that can often seem dry and dauntingly theoretical, this book will open the readers eyes to the exhilarating possibilities of both reading and studying literature.
Andrew Bennett is Professor of English at the University of Bristol and Nicholas Royle is Professor of English at the University of Sussex.
Synopsis
Fresh, original and compelling,
An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory is the essential guide to literary studies.
- The market-leading introduction to literature, criticism and theory, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to studying literature, and introduces theory in a non-threatening way
- Fully updated to take into account new theory - such as eco-criticism
- This new edition is supported by a companion website, which will contain additional, downloadable chapters on How to Read and How to Write
Synopsis
Fresh, original and compelling,
An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory is the essential guide to literary studies.
Starting at the beginning and concluding with the end, the book covers topics that range from the familiar (character, narrative, the author) to the more unusual (secrets, pleasure, ghosts). Eschewing abstract isms, Bennett and Royle successfully illuminate complex ideas by engaging directly with literary works so that a reading of Jane Eyre opens up ways of thinking about racial difference, whilst Chaucer, Raymond Chandler and Monty Python are all invoked in a discussion of literary laughter.
Each chapter ends with a narrative guide to further reading and the book also includes a glossary and bibliography. The fourth edition has been revised to incorporate two timely new chapters on animals and the environment.
A breath of fresh air in a field that can often seem dry and dauntingly theoretical, this book will open the readers eyes to the exhilarating possibilities of both reading and studying literature.
Andrew Bennett is Professor of English at the University of Bristol and Nicholas Royle is Professor of English at the University of Sussex.
About the Author
Andrew Bennett is Professor of English at the University of Bristol. He has also authored Ignorance: Literature and Agnology (MUP) and Wordsworth Writing (CUP). Nicholas Royle is Professor of English at the University of Sussex. He is the author of The Uncanny (MUP) and Jacques Derrida in the Routledge Critical Thinkers Series.
Table of Contents
1 The beginning
2 Readers and reading
3 The author
4 The text and the world
5 The uncanny
6 Monuments
7 Narrative
8 Character
9 Voice
10 Figures and tropes
11 Creative writing
12 Laughter
13 The tragic
14 History
15 Me
16 Eco
17 Animals
18 Ghosts
19 Moving pictures
20 Sexual difference
21 God
22 Ideology
23 Desire
24 Queer
25 Suspense
26 Racial difference
27 The colony
28 Mutant
29 The performative
30 Secrets
31 The postmodern
32 Pleasure
33 War
34 The end
Glossary
Select bibliography of other introductory texts and reference works
Literary works discussed
Bibliography of critical and theoretical works