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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.
288 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 30, 2024
I could see this book being a useful basic introduction to literary theories for the average high school or college student. It does take the reader through the thought process for how to apply each theory. But I think it sacrifices thoroughness for brevity. And I found the explanation of deconstruction more confusing than helpful.
Personally I’ve found other lit theory books to be more helpful. I really enjoyed An Introduction to Literature by Bennett, Andrew, Royle, Nicholas. (Longman,2009) Paperback 4th Edition. I still need to pick up Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory.
Personally I’ve found other lit theory books to be more helpful. I really enjoyed An Introduction to Literature by Bennett, Andrew, Royle, Nicholas. (Longman,2009) Paperback 4th Edition. I still need to pick up Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory.
April 5, 2024
Had to read this for class. The fact that I HAD TO made it I insufferable to read because I hate when people tell me what I have to do. Anyways.
Honestly I thought it was interesting to learn about the different critical theories when criticizing/analyzing literature. I’ll probably use these in the future even though I already use some of them. This textbook does do a good job of explaining the theories and showing readers how to apply them to a text and write an argument using the theory. It was definitely useful for class and I will be using it to write a paper this weekend for this class
Anyways ik this is a BORING READ and not my usual cool amazing show stopping reads. But if you’re an English teacher major (as Emma says) or in just English this is quite useful.
Honestly I thought it was interesting to learn about the different critical theories when criticizing/analyzing literature. I’ll probably use these in the future even though I already use some of them. This textbook does do a good job of explaining the theories and showing readers how to apply them to a text and write an argument using the theory. It was definitely useful for class and I will be using it to write a paper this weekend for this class
Anyways ik this is a BORING READ and not my usual cool amazing show stopping reads. But if you’re an English teacher major (as Emma says) or in just English this is quite useful.
Read
June 12, 2022Needed to read this for my intro course for my MA in English. It served as a nice refresher into literary theory and would also be great if you've never heard of the concepts before. Each theory includes an example of how to analyze a text according to that theory. I just wish Freud wasn't always the default exemplar of psychological criticism... I have no idea why literary studies are so obsessed with him.
August 29, 2021
A primer on reading Literature through various Critical Theory. I needed a refresher course and chose this textbook. I bought a used copy and once owned the original. And I bought it early May. It's taken me this long to get through it. Most students take this in Senior AP class in high school. But I took it in college. Not much to say. It's how to read books through theory and how to write about them which is very fashionable.
I was an Anthropology student and we learned very early in our studies to read "around a subject" and to value the time and context. That means lots of reading of similar books in the same time period. How else would we truly attempt to study a culture. Literature reflects culture and so forth so it's important to understand theory. But some of us are weird. When I was reading Jane Eyre for the first time, long, long ago, I could not ever leave behind the images of how hungry Jane was, that in the earlier parts of the book, she practically starved. I thought I was a freak until many years later, I saw China Miéville give a talk on this very subject about Jane Eyre. All the women were talking about Jane and Rochester and agency and I was thinking about class and economics. So I guess, I fall into Marxist theory. I also saw Rochester's predicament as much the same. He was the son who had to do what he had to do according to law. (We all know Percy Shelley refused lol) Jane's story is incredible, the misused, abused orphan sent off to starve and perhaps die in the brutal environment of a terrible school for orphans only to meet a tortured soul in the form of Rochester. Not likely to happen, with the madwoman in the attic and the heartache. But those two survived. How could they not. Both abused by their own particular cultures. This people, is what happens to you when you read around a subject and know the laws and circumstances of a society. And there is no modern judgment. Have fun. I am glad to be finished.
I was an Anthropology student and we learned very early in our studies to read "around a subject" and to value the time and context. That means lots of reading of similar books in the same time period. How else would we truly attempt to study a culture. Literature reflects culture and so forth so it's important to understand theory. But some of us are weird. When I was reading Jane Eyre for the first time, long, long ago, I could not ever leave behind the images of how hungry Jane was, that in the earlier parts of the book, she practically starved. I thought I was a freak until many years later, I saw China Miéville give a talk on this very subject about Jane Eyre. All the women were talking about Jane and Rochester and agency and I was thinking about class and economics. So I guess, I fall into Marxist theory. I also saw Rochester's predicament as much the same. He was the son who had to do what he had to do according to law. (We all know Percy Shelley refused lol) Jane's story is incredible, the misused, abused orphan sent off to starve and perhaps die in the brutal environment of a terrible school for orphans only to meet a tortured soul in the form of Rochester. Not likely to happen, with the madwoman in the attic and the heartache. But those two survived. How could they not. Both abused by their own particular cultures. This people, is what happens to you when you read around a subject and know the laws and circumstances of a society. And there is no modern judgment. Have fun. I am glad to be finished.
June 10, 2022
A helpful primer for beginners looking for guidance on applying critical theory to texts. The sample essays and exercises help students understand and practice each mode of criticism discussed (New Criticism, Reader-Response, Deconstruction, Historical, Psychological, and Political), and the extensive reading lists at the end of each chapter help guide students to more in-depth resources to extend their thinking in each of these modes.
May 15, 2024
For class.
It's fine.
It's fine.
October 24, 2024
i was forced to read this for school and it’s so boring !!! however i did learn stuff so that’s something
March 16, 2017
This one was for my ENG 438 LITERARY THEORY.. and by far my favorite text book. I have marked it up with so many notes and highlights and learned so much, especially regarding gender studies. A fantastic add to my personal reference books.
December 21, 2007
Lynn steers past the shoals that sunk my pedagogical interest in the Guide for the Perplexed lit theory survey, first, by providing clear examples of how each school of thought reads, and by anticipating objections to the weirdness and political engagement (or at least pretensions to political engagement) of each of these schools. His section on Freud, for example, congenially (which is the tone, throughout) explains that the concept of penis envy "continues even today to drive people up a wall." And the examples are superbly detailed: they walk students from the rudiments of simply understanding some work, to brainstorming, to research, and finally to several examples of good final papers.
I've only a few objections to it. The first is simply medieval crankiness: Hamlet and Milton anchor the--how did I end up with this nautical conceit?--they are the earliest writings, which means there's nothing from my field. Not a serious problem, by any means, since I wouldn't expect him to read Gerald of Wales in the way I want him read, anyhow. My second objection is more substantial. The Klages survey divided criticism into humanist (outmoded) and posthumanist (hip and with it since at least 1980) and rapidly dispensed with humanist approaches. Given the divisions, her explanations were much more sophisticated than Lynn, and they were generally in line with my own critical interests. Lynn, by contrast, gives us only Freud and provides nothing of Lacan. In fact, he tends towards humanist critiques: his example of a psychoanalytic reading is a character study of Hamlet rather than, say, a study of language and representation itself, and he devotes his explanation of "historicist" readings to doing a biographical exegesis of the relationship between John Cheever's life and a short story. In short, there's just not enough cultural critique.
These problems hardly sink the book, however, and I just might assign it next semester, if only because its explanations of New Criticism, poststructuralism, and feminist and gender critique are pretty good, and the last chapter on doing research is flawless. I can always victimize the Hamlet reading, and a few of the others, to create a communal (mis?)conception of sophistication in a class that would otherwise feel entirely victimized by the critical tradition.
==
Okay, I just checked the price. At 50$+, it's way too expensive.
I've only a few objections to it. The first is simply medieval crankiness: Hamlet and Milton anchor the--how did I end up with this nautical conceit?--they are the earliest writings, which means there's nothing from my field. Not a serious problem, by any means, since I wouldn't expect him to read Gerald of Wales in the way I want him read, anyhow. My second objection is more substantial. The Klages survey divided criticism into humanist (outmoded) and posthumanist (hip and with it since at least 1980) and rapidly dispensed with humanist approaches. Given the divisions, her explanations were much more sophisticated than Lynn, and they were generally in line with my own critical interests. Lynn, by contrast, gives us only Freud and provides nothing of Lacan. In fact, he tends towards humanist critiques: his example of a psychoanalytic reading is a character study of Hamlet rather than, say, a study of language and representation itself, and he devotes his explanation of "historicist" readings to doing a biographical exegesis of the relationship between John Cheever's life and a short story. In short, there's just not enough cultural critique.
These problems hardly sink the book, however, and I just might assign it next semester, if only because its explanations of New Criticism, poststructuralism, and feminist and gender critique are pretty good, and the last chapter on doing research is flawless. I can always victimize the Hamlet reading, and a few of the others, to create a communal (mis?)conception of sophistication in a class that would otherwise feel entirely victimized by the critical tradition.
==
Okay, I just checked the price. At 50$+, it's way too expensive.
May 4, 2010
We read through this whole book for my Lit Crit class. I thought it did a fairly nice job of summarizing all the different types of literary criticism and I enjoyed the random cartoons throughout the book. I also thought it was funny because the tone of voice for the book was very casual and sounded a lot like my teacher, which is probably why he picked it for our course reading. I'd only recommend if you were interested in this subject.
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2009...
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2009...
November 30, 2009
I have read most of this book now. PAINFUL would be a good way to describe it. I am still will be using it until I finish my BYU writing class. Painful, would be another way to describe this class. The only thing keeping me going in this writing class is that I will get to do lots more history classes after this.
I know that just because something is painful it doesn't mean that it isn't good for me. So I keep repeating, "Taking this class is good for me," over and over.
I know that just because something is painful it doesn't mean that it isn't good for me. So I keep repeating, "Taking this class is good for me," over and over.
August 12, 2016
mid-level undergraduate primer that lays down basic concepts for several schools of literary interpretation: romanticism, formalism, historicism, structuralism & post-structuralism, psychologism, feminism, &c. (the edition that I had in school relegated Marxism to a footnote.)
probably good for its intended task of preparing the student for more detailed study of literary theory. best part is the trippy illustrations.
probably good for its intended task of preparing the student for more detailed study of literary theory. best part is the trippy illustrations.
February 25, 2011
Texts and Contexts is a very accessible, often fun, survey of critical schools in literary thought. Lynn employs whimsical drawings, a travel metaphor, and excellent step by step examples, which are all very helpful. I read it for a class, but I would suggest it to anyone wondering about the ways that we view literature within modern, post modern, and contemporary thought.
Want to read
May 4, 2012Wasn't able to finish this before the end of the semester, though I did read the assigned sections and therefore ended up reading most of the book. Hopefully I'll get to finish it up at some point, since it was a good introduction to literary theory, especially for someone like me who had never been in that type of class before.
June 8, 2007
This text was not as useful to me as Guerin's text. I am not sure if that is because I was already familiar with Guerin's by the time I was required to read this or because Guerin's was just better.
August 22, 2016
If it wasn't a required text, I would not have paid $115.95 for this slimish book. It was an enjoyable and instructive read and I am looking forward to the course. But, damn! Why the high-gouge cover price?
June 20, 2013
It was hard to get through, but it was interesting. I had to read it for AP English IV
April 26, 2016
I had to read this for my introduction to English Studies class.
November 30, 2016
Very helpful buy so expensive. so so so expensive.
October 2, 2008
An excellent discussion on the writing process as it pertains to the various critical theories.
August 1, 2016
I read this book for school.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews