This is an up-to-date introduction to critical theory. It guides the reader through the terminology, gives a selection of the key passages to read, and helps to engage the theory and apply it in practice.

Critical Teory and Practice answers lots of questions, but also stimulates new ones. Its tailor-made combination of survey, reader and workbook is ideal for the beginning - perhaps even bewildered - student of literary theory. The work is divided into seven chapters, each of which contains guiding commentary, examples from literary and critical works, and a variety of exercises to provoke and engage you. Each chapter includes a glossary and annotated selection of suggested further reading. There is also a full bibliography. The authors cover the key issues and debates of literary theory, including: * Language, Linguistics and Literature * Structures of Literature * Literature and History * Subjectivity, Psychoanalysis and Criticism * Reading, Writing and Reception * Women, Literature and Criticism * Literature, Criticism and Cultural Identity Critical Theory and Practice is an refreshingly clear, up-to-date and eminently readable introduction to the subject. It not only guides you through the terminology and gives you a selection of the key passages to read, it also helps you engage with the theory and apply it in practice.

The second edition of Literary Criticism by Charles E. Bressler is designed to help readers make conscious, informed, and intelligent choices concerning literary interpretation. By explaining the historical development and theoretical positions of eleven schools of criticism, author Charles Bressler reveals the richness of literary texts along with the various interpretative approaches that will lead to a fuller appreciation and understanding of such texts.

Publisher Description

Critical English for Academic Purposes: Theory, Politics, and Practice is the first book to combine the theory and practice of two fields: English for academic purposes and critical pedagogy. English for academic purposes (EAP) grounds English language teaching in the cognitive and linguistic demands of academic situations, tailoring instruction to specific rather than general purposes. Critical pedagogy acknowledges students' and teachers' subject-positions, that is, their class, race, gender, and ethnicity, and encourages them to question the status quo. Critical English for academic purposes engages students in the types of activities they are asked to carry out in academic classes while inviting them to question and, in some cases, transform those activities, as well as the conditions from which they arose. It takes into account the real challenges non-native speakers of English face in their discipline-specific classes while viewing students as active participants who can help shape academic goals and assignments. Critical English for Academic Purposes: Theory, Politics, and Practice: * relates English for academic purposes and critical pedagogy, revealing and problematizing the assumptions of both fields, * provides theoretical and practical responses to academic syllabi and other institutional demands to show that teachers can both meet target demands and take students' subjectivities into account in a climate of negotiation and possibility, * offers "rights analysis" as a critical counterpart to needs analysis, * discusses the politics of "coverage" in lecture classes and proposes alternatives, and * features teaching examples that address balancing the curriculum for gender; building community in an EAP class of students from diverse economic and social backgrounds; students' rights; and organizing students to change unfavorable conditions. This book is intended for undergraduate and graduate courses for preservice and in-service ESL and EAP teachers. It is also a professional book for those interested in critical approaches to teaching and EAP.

"Poststructuralism and Critical Theory's Second Generation" analyses the major themes and developments in a period that brought continental philosophy to the forefront of scholarship in a variety of humanities and social science disciplines and that set the agenda for philosophical thought on the continent and elsewhere from the 1960s to the present. Focusing on the years 1960-1984, the volume examines the major figures associated with poststructuralism and the second generation of critical theory, the two dominant movements that emerged in the 1960s: Althusser, Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida, Lyotard, Irigaray, and Habermas. Influential thinkers such as Serres, Bourdieu, and Rorty, who are not easily placed in "standard" histories of the period, are also covered. Beyond this, thematic essays engage with issues as diverse as the Nietzschean legacy, the linguistic turn in continental thinking, the phenomenological inheritance of Gadamer and Ricoeur, the influence of psychoanalysis, the emergence of feminist thought and a philosophy of sexual difference, the renewal of the critical theory tradition, and the importation of continental philosophy into literary theory.

"This book presents a magisterial overview of Cultural Studies, and of studies of culture more broadly. It synthesizes a bewildering range of writers and ideas into a comprehensible narrative. It’s respectful to the history of ideas and completely cutting edge. I learned a lot – you will too." - Professor Alan McKee, University of Technology Sydney "The role of culture in spatial, digital and political settings is a vital aspect of contemporary life. Barker and Jane provide an excellent introduction to Cultural Studies’ relationship to these core issues, both through a clear explanation of key concepts and thinkers, alongside well chosen examples and essential questions." - Dr David O′Brien, Goldsmiths, University of London With over 40,000 copies sold, Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice has been the indispensable guide to studying culture for generations of students. Here is everything students need to know, with all the key concepts, theories and thinkers in one comprehensive, authoritative yet accessible resource. Teaching students the foundations of cultural studies - from ideology, representation and discourse to audiences, subcultures and cultural policy - this revised edition: Fully explores the ubiquity of digital media culture, helping readers analyse issues surrounding social media, surveillance, cyber-activism and more Introduces students to all the key thinkers they’ll encounter, from Stuart Hall and Michel Foucault to Judith Butler and Donna Haraway Balances the classics with cutting edge theory, including case studies on e-commerce, the self-help industry, the transgender debate, and representations of race Embraces popular culture in all of its diversity, from drag kings and gaming, to anime fandom and remix cultures Is re-written throughout with a new co-author, making it a more enjoyable read than ever. Unmatched in coverage and used world-wide, this is the essential companion for all students of cultural studies, culture and society, media and cultural theory, popular culture and cultural sociology.