Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory

  Texts and Contexts:  Writing about Literature presents a user-friendly introduction to contemporary critical theories—from new criticism to cultural studies—as part of the practice of analyzing and writing about literature.  Some of the changes to the new edition include enhanced coverage of film and other genres reflecting the growing interest in film as an academic field and engaging students.  New sample texts and projects, all classroom-tested, appear at the end of every theory chapter, along with guiding questions to offer more practice for students in applying critical theory to literary texts.  There is more on current approaches to literature, including the relationship between rhetoric and reader-response criticism, Marxism, postcolonialism, queer theory, feminist theory, and African-American studies.

Table of Contents:
Preface 1          An Introduction, Theoretically   Textual Tours Checking Some Baggage     Anything to Declare?         Recommended Further Reading   2          Critical Worlds: A Selective Tour          Brendan Gill, from Here at “The New Yorker”  New Criticism  Reader-Response Criticism  Deconstructive Criticism  Historical Approaches     Psychological Criticism     Feminist Criticism  Other Approaches       Works Cited  Recommended Further Reading    3          Unifying the Work: New Criticism         The Purpose of New Criticism  Basic Principles Reflected     Archibald MacLeish, “Ars Poetica”   Radicals in Tweed Jackets How to Do New Criticism The Writing Process: A Sample Essay   Gwendolyn Brooks, “The Mother” 48   Preparing to Write        Shaping  Drafting Practicing New Criticism           Lucille Clifton, “forgiving my father” Stephen Shu-ning Liu, “My Father’s Martial Art” Ben Jonson, “On My First Son” “The Prodigal Son” (Luke 15: 11—32, King James Version) Useful Terms    Checklist Works Cited and Recommended Reading           4          Creating the Text: Reader-Response Criticism   The Purpose of Reader-Response Criticism      New Criticism as the Old Criticism The Reader Emerges    Hypertextual Readers How to Do Reader-Response Criticism            Preparing to Respond   Sandra Cisneros, “Love Poem #1”        Making Sense Subjective Response Receptive Response The Writing Process: A Sample Essay   Preparing to Respond   Ernest Hemingway, “A Very Short Story”         Preparing to Write   Shaping Drafting Practicing Reader-Response Criticism   Michael Drayton, “Since There’s No Help” Judith Minty, “Killing the Bear” Caroline Fraser, “All Bears” Emily Dickinson, “Through the Dark Sod” Useful Terms    Works Cited and Recommended  Further Reading    5          Opening Up the Text: Deconstructive Criticism  The Purpose of Deconstruction How to Do Deconstruction       William Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium  The Writing Process: A Sample Essay   Amy Clampitt, “Discovery” Preparing to Write        Shaping     Drafting  Practicing Deconstructive Criticism        Continuing Education, Cut Through the Anxiety... William Blake, “London” Linda Pastan, “Ethics” John Donne, “Death Be Not Proud” Useful Terms      Checklist Works Cited and Recommended Further Reading    6          Connecting the Text: Varieties of Historical Criticism            The Purposes of Biographical, Historical, Postcolonial, Ethnic, Marxist, and Cultural Studies Biographical and Historical Criticism     John Milton, When I Consider How My Light Is Spent Cultural Studies     New Historicism History as Text        Marxist Criticism  Postcolonial Studies      How to Do Historical, Postcolonial, and Cultural Studies           The Writing Process: Sample Essays     John Cheever, Reunion     A Biographical Essay   Preparing to Write Shaping      Drafting            A New Historical Essay Preparing to Write  Shaping Drafting  Practicing Historical, Postcolonial, and Cultural Studies  Useful Terms Checklist       Works Cited and Recommended Further Reading              7          Minding the Work:  Psychological Criticism       The Purpose of Psychological Criticism How to Do Psychological Criticism       William Wordsworth, “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal”  The Writing Process: A Sample Essay   William Shakespeare, from Hamlet        Preparing to Write Shaping  Drafting            Practicing Psychological Criticism          Emily Dickinson, “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass”         Marianne Moore, “O to Be a Dragon”  Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach”  Your Dream Here Useful Terms Checklist Works Cited and Recommended Further Reading    8          Gendering the Text: Feminist Criticism, Post-Feminism, and Queer Theory         The Purposes of Feminist Criticism, Post-Feminism, and   Queer Theory How to Do Feminist Criticism, Post-Feminism, and Queer Theory         Mary Astell, from A Serious Proposal  The Writing Process: A Sample Essay   Samuel Johnson, To Miss _____ On Her Playing upon the Harpsichord...         Preparing to Respond  Shaping  Drafting            Revision: Gay and Lesbian Criticism      Practicing Feminist, Post-Feminist and Queer Theory Criticism  William Shakespeare, Shall I Compare Thee... Emily Dickinson, My Life had stood... Tobias Wolff, “Say Yes”           Gender in the Movies  Useful Terms Checklist Works Cited Recommended Further Reading                          Appendix 1: John Donne, The Canonization      Appendix 2: How Theories Relate                                    Credits Index