Product Description

The last few decades have seen an explosion in the production of critical theories, with deconstructionists, poststructuralists, postmodernists, second-wave feminists, new historicists, cultural materialists, postcolonialists, black critics and queer theorists, among a host of others, all vying for our attention. This vast range of interpretations can leave one feeling confused and frustrated. This book provides a route through the tangled jungle of competing theories, in an accessible and enjoyable manner.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121387 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781848310599
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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About the Author
Borin Van Loon has worked on numerous Introducing titles. He is a freelance illustrator, surrealist painter and collagist who produced the comic strip 'The Severed Head' for The Chap magazine.

Customer Reviews

Good Overview - A Starting Point
This book, part of a series (basically "Philosophy for dummies") will be purchased by stressed-out college students trying to write term papers for literature class. After getting totally confused by the impenetrable writing of the great theorists themselves, students will turn to this book hoping to get some light. The book gives a decent overview of the major theories, trying to put them in common language, something the theorists themselves seem incapable of writing in. It goes so far as to use cartoons to get the points across.

While it will help sort out Deconstruction from Formalism and so on, don't count on this to save your term paper the night before its due. There's not enough detail on any of the theories to stand alone, and they are presented in a strange order. Also, some of the major schools of criticism (like New Criticism) don't appear. The author is obviously quite fond of Marxism. Unfortunately, the author also slides into some of the same kind of mumbo-jumbo as the original theorists themselves.

The idea is still a great one, however. If you read this, then some of the more specific books that follow (Introducing Lacan, Derrida, etc) it may help get you started.
Hey, if the alternative is trying to sort through Derrida and Barthes themselves, then anything has got to be better.

Not exactly a simple re-phrasing of theories
Unfortunately, this book doesn't make it any easier to understand various critial theories. It skims over them in a way that requires the reader to already have a basic understanding of the theories, and it often explains the theories in the jargon of the theorists. In other words, it isn't very helpful for those trying to get a handle on unwieldy theories. It isn't a basic introduction, nor is it for "dummies."

I would say this book is very useful...
Reading this book is not going to make you an expert on Foucault or Lacan- however, if what you are seeking is an idea as to the spectrum of schools and branches and concerns of "critical theory," or if you're not even terribly sure what "critical theory" IS, then I suggest you pick this book up. When I was just getting started, it really helped me create a "cognitive map" of the field. Basically you get a mapped out schema of the world of critical theory, with a few tantalizing tidbits dropped about some of the thinkers- then it is up to you to go out and get the real books and start reading them. But if you are starting from nothing, and don't even know what you want to read- Donald Rumsfield's "Unknown Unknowns," then start reading this book so you can figure out what your "Known unknowns" are: "I don't know anything about Althusser, but judging on what I read in this book, I now know that I want to study him," etc. I have a few other of the "Introducing" books, and, honestly, the only one I came back to at all frequently was this one. It does not try to "explain" any particular thinker, but to introduce you to a field- I think in this regard I think it is sucessful. It is by no means perfect- for instance, Zizek only gets two teeny little pages- but, again, it is making various "names" available to you, various schools, various strands- Frankfurt school, Deconstruction, Structuralism, Post Marxist, Post Feminist, etc- so that you can go out and get started. I highly recommend this book. I think it is terrific. (Plus the illustrations are great fun!) Critical theory can be a confusing hodge podge of theoretical models- this book will help you on the path.