The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism

Great book. It is a collection of great scholarly essays. It takes fragments of texts from the world's best theorists and sequences them according to content. Judith Butler, Freud, Aristotle, and many other theorists are represented. They also have a wonderfully outlined index. It is helpful when trying to find a specific concept. There are also tables of context listing theorists by date and theme. This is my go to book when trying to find ideas for articles and research papers.

An exhaustive and briefly thorough reference on theory and criticism complete with bibliographies at the end of each section. From Plato to Samuel Jonhson to Marx to Habermas to Derrida to Edward Said, if it pertains to the theory or criticism of literature, the arts, or culture, it is probably covered here in a somewhat contemporary presentation. Goes beyond what you might expect in a textbook, serving as a very useful class resource or as the ultimate home library reference for the consumate home reader.Belongs on the bookcase of every liberal arts, humanities, philosophy, literature or cultural studies enthusiast.

This is a textbook of philosophy. This is a kind of dictionary. You could find any philosopher throughout an index. If you are studying in Philosophy or Psychology, you should buy this book.

The best anthology on literary theory AND criticism.

Norton anthologies are typically criticized for their omissions, rarely for their inclusions. But by their nature, anthology editors must be selective, because not every representation can be accommodated. Frequently, these omissions center on an obscure, parochial, or provincial interest that the editors choose, often rightly, to omit.Here's a case where criticism of both inclusion and omission are justified, if only because over-sampling of one representation must be compensated by elimination of other eminently more valuable contenders. The representative scope, here, is quite broad, and for the most part, well-chosen. But the preponderance, even redundancy, of Marxist criticism, while not in itself objectionable, becomes objectionable because it "forces" out other worthy candidates.How many variants of Marxist and neo-Marxist criticism compensates for the exclusion of L. Wittgenstein, I. A. Richards, H. G. Gadamer, and P. Ricoeur? Providing well over twenty, perhaps thirty, examples of the former at the expense of the latter simply cannot be justified. The latter are too important. Even if Wittgenstein, particularly, does not "fit" strict criteria for inclusion, numerous devotees of his do, e.g., Charles Altieri, but aren't.Otherwise, this collection could not be much improved. I would have made room E. Auerbach, again, because the over-sampling of Marxist criticism would have allowed it. While heavily Francophilic, Americans are well-represented, e.g., Emerson, Burke, Frye, Hirsch, Bloom, H. White, H. L. Gates, Jr., etc. I might have chosen different pericopes, greatly abbreviated some of the biographical data, and emphasized the methods more, but these are really minor criticisms.As positive as I am about the overall effort, these four omissions are troublesome, and do devalue the volume. In particular, Wittgenstein's enormous influence over the entire century makes his omission both incredulous and inexplicable. Otherwise, a very good collection.

The only book I don't keep on my bookshelf because I use it for reference so often. This little guy gets a special spot right on my desk.

Great Anthology. Theory is great. A ton of great literary theory in one place. Great resource.

very happy with book. I has helped me a lot with graduate studies and finding definitions that make classes easier.

Really love everything about this copy. No complaints whatsoever.

Pretty much essential for any literature students or people looking to get into essays

a perfect anthology and selection of the most important authors concerned about literature and theory with a great preface to give an introduction to every field.

Just what it says on the tin - a massive book of essay and extract.

This is one of those massive tomes that you will drag out in the wee desperate hours of essay writing. Unfortunately because there is so much information the hard cover version is printed in tiny, tiny type on wafer-thin paper. Very hard on the eyes and it could have been structured a bit more coherently.Many of the collected writings are purposefully obtuse and seemingly out of date. The feminist section could use a bit of revising and updating. Not that useful for the section on Freud either - his work can be found in easier to read formats and many times free.