Ten Lessons in Theory: An Introduction to Theoretical Writing

An introduction to literary theory unlike any other, Ten Lessons in Theory engages its readers with three fundamental premises. The first premise is that a genuinely productive understanding of theory depends upon a considerably more sustained encounter with the foundational writings of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud than any reader is likely to get from the introductions to theory that are currently available. The second premise involves what Fredric Jameson describes as "the conviction that of all the writing called theoretical, Lacan's is the richest." Entertaining this conviction, the book pays more (and more careful) attention to the richness of Lacan's writing than does any other introduction to literary theory. The third and most distinctive premise of the book is that literary theory isn't simply theory "about" literature, but that theory fundamentally is literature, after all. Ten Lessons in Theory argues, and even demonstrates, that "theoretical writing" is nothing if not a specific genre of "creative writing," a particular way of engaging in the art of the sentence, the art of making sentences that make trouble—sentences that make, or desire to make, radical changes in the very fabric of social reality. As its title indicates, the book proceeds in the form of ten "lessons," each based on an axiomatic sentence selected from the canon of theoretical writing. Each lesson works by creatively unpacking its featured sentence and exploring the sentence's conditions of possibility and most radical implications. In the course of exploring the conditions and consequences of these troubling sentences, the ten lessons work and play together to articulate the most basic assumptions and motivations supporting theoretical writing, from its earliest stirrings to its most current turbulences. Provided in each lesson is a working glossary: specific critical keywords are boldfaced on their first appearance and defined either in the text or in a footnote. But while each lesson constitutes a precise explication of the working terms and core tenets of theoretical writing, each also attempts to exemplify theory as a "practice of creativity" (Foucault) in itself.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Preface: "Something worth reading": Theory and/as the Art of the Sentence Introductory Matters: What Theory Does, Why Theory Lives Lesson 1: "The world must be made to mean"—or, in(tro)ducing the subject of human reality Lesson 2: "Meaning is the polite word for pleasure"—or, how the beast in the nursery learns to read Lesson 3: "Language is by nature fictional"—or, why the word for moonlight can't be moonlight Lesson 4: "Desire must be taken literally"—a few words on death, sex, and interpretation Lesson 5: "You are not yourself"—or, I (think, therefore I) is an other Lesson 6: "This restlessness is us"—or, the least that can be said about Hegel Lesson 7: "There is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism"—or, the fates of literary formalism Lesson 8: "The unconscious is structured like a language"—or, invasions of the signifier Lesson 9: "There is nothing outside the text"—or, fear of the proliferation of meaning Lesson 10: "One is not born a woman"—on making the world queerer than ever In the End: Theory is (not—) Forever Reference Matters Index

About the Author :
Calvin Thomas is Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies in English at Georgia State University in Atlanta, USA. He is the author of Masculinity, Psychoanalysis, Straight Queer Theory: Essays on Abjection in Literature, Mass Culture, and Film (2008) and Male Matters: Masculinity, Anxiety, and the Male Body on the Line (1996). He is the editor of Straight with a Twist: Queer Theory and the Subject of Heterosexuality (2000).

Review :
Ten Lessons in Theory: An Introduction to Theoretical Writing is an excellent, thoughtful, and sophisticated introduction to the use of theory in critical work. Calvin Thomas encourages readers to have a better understanding of foundational theoretical texts on a fundamental level … This introduction is nuanced and holds something for everyone. Thomas’s advocacy is a spirited rhetorical performance, made more valiant when considered in the context of our distinctly post-theory climate. ... In lesser hands, this ambitious exercise might have easily ended up in a dizzying theoretical tour, rushed and routine, but Thomas develops an admirably tight narrative, marshaling vast multiplicities of often competing theories into an elegant labyrinthine argument, all the while offering sharp and fresh accounts of the different positions in question. The book would make for a perfect introduction to readers new to Theory. [A] wide-ranging, incisive and sometimes polemical tour through contemporary literary theory ... Any student or teacher of theory who has trouble giving a sympathetic audience to psychoanalytic concepts and approaches would benefit from the first half of Thomas’s book. Thomas has a gift for not only making Lacanian psychoanalysis clear, but also for making these concepts seem virtually self-evident. ... Ten Lessons in Theory should be read widely. Thomas makes a passionate, compelling case for the work of theory, for the political purchase of a certain way of thinking and writing theoretically. He also does an exceptional job of making surprising connections across theoretical approaches and ideas. For the student who does not understand why virtually impenetrable texts are being assigned with such frequency, or why they are considered a necessary part of one’s education, Thomas’s book will not only help clear the conceptual ground, but will also give the student some sense of why grappling with complexity and density is worthwhile in the first place. This beautifully written and imaginatively conceived introduction to critical theory is effectively structured around the 'ten lessons' of the title. It offers something genuinely new by focussing in detail on the legacies of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud, whose insights, while foundational to much critical theory, are all too often passed over in cursory fashion in other guides. Ten Lessons in Theory will make you fall in love with theory. And if you already are, it will make you congratulate yourself for having such a splendid beloved. No ordinary introduction to theory, Calvin Thomas's treatise is a dazzling, articulate, impassioned, and wholly convincing argument for why theory matters and should continue to matter. Through a close explication of some of theory's most famous statements, Thomas brings theoretical reasoning to life in ways that keep the reader—even the expert reader—riveted. Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud get the special attention they deserve, and Lacan animates the text the way only Lacan—when well explained—can. The next time a student complains about the ‘uselessness’ or ‘difficulty’ of theory, I'll hand them Ten Lessons in Theory. Gorgeously written and compellingly argued, Calvin Thomas’s Ten Lessons in Theory provides students of all levels with a sparklingly insightful initiation into the full intellectual sweep of what is known as ‘theory’ in today’s humanities. But, in addition to this, Thomas offers even the most seasoned scholars a plethora of creative new perspectives on the past two centuries running from post-Kantian German idealism to the aftermath of ‘postmodernism.’ Ten Lessons in Theory accomplishes nothing less than a radical reconfiguration of our contemporary theoretical conjuncture through its Lacan-inspired reactivation of the more-relevant-than-ever legacies of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. Everyone from undergraduates to full professors to curious lay readers has a great deal to learn from Thomas. One cannot find a surer, clearer, and more enlightening guide to this tricky intellectual terrain anywhere.