Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature With Critical Theory

by Lynn, Steven

• ISBN13: 9780321081049
• ISBN10: 0321081048
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-01-01
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory provides an accessible introduction to contemporary critical theoriesfrom new criticism to cultural studiesas part of the practice of writing about literature. An ideal supplement to any literature anthology, this text works in composition courses that introduce literature to freshman as well as in upper-level theory courses. Providing a wealth of writing strategies, the text explains the assumptions underlying the various critical theories, and then takes the students through the process of employing these methods to enrich their engagements with literature. This 3rd Edition includes a new Chapter 1, An Introduction, Theoretically as well as updated coverage of research and the Internet.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
An Introduction, Theoretically	3	(10)
Textual Tours	3	(1)
Checking Some Baggage	4	(4)
Anything to Declare?	8	(2)
Recommended Further Reading	10	(3)
Critical Worlds: A Selective Tour	13	(20)
New Criticism	14	(3)
Here at The New Yorker	14	(3)
Brendan Gill
Reader-Response Criticism	17	(3)
Deconstructive Criticism	20	(2)
Biographical, Historical, and New Historical Criticism	22	(3)
Psychological Criticism	25	(2)
Feminist Criticism	27	(2)
Other Approaches	29	(1)
Works Cited	30	(1)
Recommended Further Reading	31	(2)
Unifying the Work: New Criticism	33	(22)
The Purpose of New Criticism	33	(8)
Basic Principles Reflected	34	(1)
Archibald MacLeish, ``Ars Poetica''	34	(4)
Radicals in Tweed Jackets	38	(3)
How to Do New Criticism	41	(3)
The Writing Process: A Sample Essay	44	(6)
Gwendolyn Brooks, ``The Mother''	44	(1)
Preparing to Write	45	(1)
Shaping	46	(2)
Drafting	48	(2)
Practicing New Criticism	50	(2)
``forgiving my father''	50	(1)
Lucille Clifton
``My Father's Martial Art''	51	(1)
Stephen Shu-ning Liu
Works Cited	52	(1)
Recommended Further Reading	53	(2)
Creating the Text: Reader-Response Criticism	55	(36)
The Purpose of Reader-Response Criticism	55	(4)
New Criticism as the Old Criticism	55	(1)
The Reader Emerges	56	(3)
Hypertextual Readers	59	(2)
How to Do Reader-Response Criticism	61	(8)
``Love Poem # 1''	61	(1)
Sandra Cisneros
Making Sense	62	(1)
Subjective Response	63	(2)
Receptive Response	65	(4)
The Writing Process: A Sample Essay	69	(12)
Preparing to Respond	69	(1)
Ernest Hemingway ``A Very Short Story''	69	(5)
Preparing to Write	74	(3)
Shaping	77	(1)
Drafting	78	(3)
Practicing Reader-Response Criticism	81	(6)
``Since There's No Help''	81	(1)
Michael Drayton
``Killing the Bear''	82	(5)
Judith Minty
Works Cited	87	(1)
Recommended Further Reading	88	(3)
Opening Up the Text: Deconstructive Criticism	91	(30)
The Purpose of Deconstruction	91	(6)
How to Do Deconstruction	97	(5)
``Sailing to Byzantium''	97	(5)
William Butler Yeats
The Writing Process: A Sample Essay	102	(14)
Amy Clampitt, ``Discovery''	103	(1)
Preparing to Write	104	(5)
Shaping	109	(2)
Drafting	111	(5)
Practicing Deconstructive Criticism	116	(3)
USC Continuing Education, ``Cut Through the Anxiety''	116	(1)
William Blake, ``London''	117	(2)
Works Cited	119	(1)
Recommended Further Reading	119	(2)
Connecting the Text: Biographical, Historical, and New Historical Criticism	121	(46)
The Purpose of Biographical, Historical, and New Historical Criticism	121	(17)
Biographical Criticism	121	(1)
``When I Consider How My Light Is Spent''	122	(1)
John Milton
Historical Criticism	122	(3)
Cultural Studies	125	(3)
New Historicism	128	(1)
History as Text	129	(2)
Marxist Criticism	131	(3)
Postcolonial Studies	134	(4)
How to Do Biographical, Historical, and New Historical Criticism	138	(2)
The Writing Process: Sample Essays	140	(4)
``Reunion''	140	(4)
John Cheever
A Biographical Essay	144	(17)
Preparing to Write	144	(5)
Shaping	149	(2)
Drafting	151	(4)
A New Historical Essay	155	(1)
Preparing to Write	155	(1)
Shaping	156	(2)
Drafting	158	(3)
Practicing Biographical, Historical, and New Historical Criticism	161	(2)
Cartoon	162	(1)
Stan Hunt
Cartoon	163	(1)
Rowland Wilson
Works Cited	163	(1)
Recommended Further Reading	164	(3)
Minding the Work: Psychological Criticism	167	(26)
The Purpose of Psychological Criticism	167	(5)
How to Do Psychological Criticism	172	(4)
``A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal''	173	(3)
William Wordsworth
The Writing Process: A Sample Essay	176	(11)
Hamlet	177	(1)
William Shakespeare
Preparing to Write	178	(1)
Shaping	179	(4)
Drafting	183	(4)
Practicing Psychological Criticism	187	(2)
``A Narrow Fellow in the Grass''	188	(1)
Emily Dickinson
``O to Be a Dragon''	189	(1)
Marianne Moore
Works Cited	189	(1)
Recommended Further Reading	190	(3)
Gendering the Text: Feminist Criticism	193	(30)
The Purpose of Feminist Criticism	193	(4)
How to Do Feminist Criticism	197	(8)
A Serious Proposal	200	(5)
Mary Astell
The Writing Process: A Sample Essay	205	(12)
``To Miss --- On Her Playing the Harpsichord''	206	(1)
Samuel Johnson
Preparing to Respond	207	(3)
Shaping	210	(2)
Drafting	212	(3)
Revision: Gay and Lesbian Criticism	215	(2)
Practicing Feminist Criticism	217	(2)
``Shall I Compare Thee''	217	(1)
William Shakespeare
``My Life had stood''	218	(1)
Emily Dickinson
Works Cited	219	(1)
Recommended Further Reading	220	(3)
Investigating the Work: Research and Documentation	223	(34)
The Purposes of Research Papers	224	(20)
The Topic and the Task	225	(5)
Finding and Using Resources	230	(1)
Background Sources	231	(1)
Bibliographies and Indexes	232	(3)
Securing Resources, Taking Notes, Finding a Thesis	235	(5)
Drafting and Revising	240	(4)
The Writing Process: A Sample Research Paper	244	(13)
Getting Ideas	244	(6)
Organizing	250	(1)
Drafting	251	(4)
Works Cited	255	(1)
Recommended Further Readings	256	(1)
Appendix	257	(2)
``The Canonization''	257	(2)
John Donne
Credits	259	(2)
Index	261