Description: An essential primer and guide to literary studies for students and scholars
Critical Terms for Literary Study is an essential handbook and introduction to the work of literary theory. Covering a broad range of key terms that include popular culture, diversity, imperialism, ethics, desire, class, gender, race, canon, representation, and much more through essays by leading scholars, it provides a concise history of each term alongside a critical exploration of the issues and questions for the field that it raises, followed by demonstrations of reading strategies driven by the term. Exploring the concepts that shape the way we read, the essays combine to provide an extraordinary introduction to the work of literature and literary study, as the nation's most distinguished scholars put the tools of critical practice vividly to use.Brief description: Frank Lentricchia is the Katherine Everett Gilbert Professor of Literature and Theater Studies in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University. He is the author or editor of ten critical works, most recently Modernist Quartet, several novels, and a memoir.