For over twenty-five years a favorite of instructors and students around the world, this comprehensive guide to the major critical approaches to literature has been thoroughly revised to reflect the explosion of critical theories and the radical expansion and revision of the literary canon that have taken place in recent decades. Two entirely new chapters cover feminist approaches and structuralism and poststructuralism, and there are substantial new sections on recent neo-Marxist theories, dialogics, hermeneutics, the new historicism, and reader-response criticism. In addition, bibliographic references have been updated and expanded throughout. Combining the best features of competing texts, the Handbook not only defines and outlines the development of all the major critical-interpretive perspectives, with copious references to the most important and influential sources, but offers detailed practical applications of the various approaches to the same four literary works--a unique feature that gives students both a dramatic demonstration of the strengths of each approach and a memorable set of models for the interpretation of other literary works. Organized for flexibility, the Handbook can be taught as a continuous unit or adapted to fit courses organized by genre, and is equally successful as an introductory survey for beginning students and as a reference and bibliographic guide for graduates. Offering a practical yet scholarly blend of applied criticism and pedagogy in an engaging style and an accessible format, this new edition of the Handbook is an invaluable companion for today's students of literature and literary criticism.

A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature

Guerin, Wilfred L.

Labor, Earle G.

Morgan, Lee

Reesman, Jeanne C.

Willingham, John R.

Literature & Fiction

Oxford University Press

Now in its fourth edition, A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature has become a standard introduction to the close reading of literature. It offers students and other readers a variety of ways to interpret a piece of literature, ranging from traditional approaches through the formalist, the psychological, the mythic and archetypal, and into such contemporary approaches as feminist criticism and cultural studies. Applying these diverse approaches to the same five works, the book shows students how various methods offer different insights, enriching their response to and understanding of the individual work. This fourth edition features a new chapter on cultural studies and the inclusion and interpretation of Alice Walker's singularly rich short story, "Everyday Use."

Labor, Earle

Willingham, John

History & Criticism

Now in its fifth edition, A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature has become both a standard introduction to the close reading of literature and an invaluable resource for English graduate students. It offers students and other readers a variety of ways to interpret a piece of literature, ranging from historical/biographical and moral/philosophical approaches through the formalist, the psychological, the mythic and archetypal, and into such contemporary perspectives as feminist criticism and cultural studies. The book applies these diverse approaches to the same six classic works--"To His Coy Mistress," Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, "Young Goodman Brown," "Everyday Use," and, new to this edition, Frankenstein--showing students how various methods offer different insights and enriching their response to and understanding of the individual works. The fifth edition is enhanced by the addition of Frankenstein, a complex work that lends itself to multiple levels of interpretation and is familiar in both its cinematic and literary forms. The coverage of Frankenstein incorporates material on popular culture--discussions of various fiction, stage, film, and television appearances of the work--as well as several photographs. This edition also features organizational and content changes that bring the volume up-to-date with contemporary literary criticism. Offering a valuable combination of theory and practice, A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, Fifth Edition, is ideal for courses in literary criticism or theory and can also be used in introduction to literature courses.

Reference

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Books by Guerin, Wilfred L.