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Critical Theory Since Plato

Hazard Adams,

Leroy Searle

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 161 ratings · 15 reviews

CRITICAL THEORY SINCE PLATO is a chronologically-arranged anthology that presents a broad survey of the history and development of literary criticism and theory in Western culture. Written by two well-known scholars in the field of literary study, this well-respected text puts an emphasis on the individual contributors to the development of literary criticism, from Plato a ...more

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Hardcover, 1568 pages

Published August 9th 2004 by Wadsworth Publishing (first published January 2nd 1992)

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Apr 15, 2015 Ross Lampert rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: literary_criticism

From Plato to the late 1960s, the search for a way to find meaning in literature seemed to go down one rabbit hole after another. By the end of Hazard's compilation, we get statements like this, from Murray Krieger, the last contributor: "For the poem as discourse and thing is motion and is in motion. Yet it is motion in stillness, the stillness that is at once moving and forever still." A self-licking ice cream cone of self-contradictory nonsense.

I have other complaints about this book. First, ...more

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Dec 22, 2013 Atra Bou rated it it was amazing

This book contains essays of great value for those who want to find writers who advocates the same opinions of a certain subject. I enjoyed reading Pope essay and discovering it. Also Oscar Wild's and Blake's
It is a must have for scholars, it serves as a dictionary for me whenever I want to find a writer who shares the same opinion as mine to backup my arguments. ...more

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Feb 23, 2008 Scott rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A fine primer on the ways in which we think critically about literature, starting with Plato's Republic and stopping on the cusp of the contemporary theoretical quagmire. The prose is keen yet dense, and I can't believe I read quite as much of this book as I did. ...more

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Mar 14, 2017 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-studies

My major textbook in graduate school. Taught me a way of thinking.

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Jan 13, 2012 sologdin rated it liked it

Shelves: literary-theory

Indispensible for students of literature & literary theory. Designed principally for undergraduates, and providing a broad selection of western literary theory.

Not a substitute for actually reading all of the seminal texts, this volume will certainly fill the need for knowledge of the history of theory.

One of the best individual selections is Mazzoni's reading of Plato, in discussing Dante, regarding the functions of the fantastic and the icastic. The latter concerns the representation of thing ...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Feliks rated it it was amazing

Shelves: criticism

I consider this the most useful and salient collection of critical theory I've ever encountered. Adams gathers togther a very choice collection of essays, private letters, tributes, speeches, reviews and arguments which have trickled down to us throughout the ages. The selections here come from Greco-Roman philosophers, Renaissance painters; medieval monks, courtiers, epic poets, Elizabethan playwrights, existentialists, religious historians, surrealists...a vast panorama of creative intellects ...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Jerrid Wolflick rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reference

I am not a great keeper of college textbooks, but this one was different. I was enamored in the first twenty pages and read the entire book even though only parts of it were assigned. It is one of the finest overviews of how critical theory came into being and evolved from the Classical Greeks through Spivak and LaClau. It presents opposing ideas in the field as well as allowing a reader to compare these differing ideas in close proximity.

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Aug 15, 2008 Stephen marked it as books-interrupted · review of another edition

Obviously, this isn't the kind of book that most people read from cover to cover, and neither did I, but it's a great volume to have around. I have especially appreciated discovering, or just having available, all the stuff in the big middle--between Plato and say, Barthes--which doesn't get taught in many critical theory surveys. ...more

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Feb 02, 2015 Utami Karismansyah rated it it was amazing

Buku yang keren, referensi paling lengkap yang berisi essay dari era Plato hingga kritikus post-modernisme. Ditunjang dengan jumlah halaman yang nyaris mencapai 1600 halaman, siap-siap berpetualang di dunia sastra dan filsafat :D

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Jan 20, 2010 Dusty rated it liked it

Haven't formed much of an opinion about this book except: (1) it's freaking heavy; (2) its introductions to theorists and texts are well-written and informative; and (3) despite its heft and "well-writtenness" it seems to leave out quite a bit. In other words: It's an anthology. ...more

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