num_pages: 246
description: This revised and expanded edition contains new chapters postmodernism, new historicism, postcolonial criticism, multiculturalism, and the role of theory in literary studies. It has new sections on Jacques Derrida and Mikhail Bakhtin, and updated suggestions for further readings, with brief annotations. This is the most engaging introduction to literary theory available today. Its distinctive features are its clarity and its ability to explain the real significance for the reader of recently-developed theories. Specific applications to well-known novels, plays, and poems show how theory can increase the pleasure and understanding we gain from works of literature. This book shows why literary theory matters today. The general argument of the book investigates the issue of authority, for readers, writers, and critics. We should not approach literary theory matters today. The general argument of the book investigates the issue of authority, for readers, writers, and critics. We should not approach literary texts of literary theories, Bonnycastle suggests, looking for an external authority. Rather we must realize that "authority is a social construction, that we all play a part in establishing it, and that it is potentially accessible to us all."
language: English
title: In Search of Authority: An Introductory Guide to Literary Theory
titlecomplete: In Search of Authority: An Introductory Guide to Literary Theory
genres: Literary Criticism, Nonfiction, Reference, Education
ratings_count: 64
publisher: Broadview Press