This anthology of critical writing ranges from Gorgias and Plato to Sigmund Freud and Mikhail Bakhtin. Each of the 147 contributions has a headnote introducing the writer and making connections to other critics, theorists and movements. An introduction surveys the history of theory and criticism.

Second edition.

-- American Literature

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Maps out contemporary theory, tracing its complex configurations, its political preoccupations, and its relations with literature. This work explores the engagement of theory with such phenomena as globalization and postmodernism, multiculturalism and cultural wars, as well as the rise of neoliberalism and the corporate university.

Maps out contemporary theory, tracing its complex configurations, its political preoccupations, and its relations with literature. This work explores the engagement of theory with such phenomena as globalization and postmodernism, multiculturalism and cultural wars, as well as the rise of neoliberalism and the corporate university.