Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide

Select a work of literature with which you are familiar. What questions would you ask about the work? Which form of theory would best illuminate aspects of the text that you are interested in? How and why?

Compare and contrast structuralism and deconstructivism. To what extent do they share theoretical foundations? To what extent do they differ?

Write a response to a chapter of Critical Theory Today with a focus on what you understood, what you found challenging, and what you enjoyed or did not enjoy about the chapter. Then, analyze your response using one of the modes of reader-response analysis.

Read Beloved by Toni Morrison. To what extent are Tyson’s interpretations of it throughout Critical Theory Today convincing? What other analyses could be done of the text to uncover new meanings?

Select one text from the “For Advanced Study” bibliography of a chapter. How does your chosen work contribute to that domain of critical theory?

How does postcolonial theory interact with other critical theories covered in Critical Theory Today (e.g., feminist, queer, etc.)? In what ways is it different or similar in its concerns and approaches?

Select a literary work that is personally meaningful to you. How does The Role of Personal Connections to Literature shape your understanding of the work? How does the work in turn shape your understanding of the world?

The field of critical theory as a whole is an extension of psychoanalytic and Marxist theories. Select one critical theory (e.g., feminist, queer, ecocritical etc.). What relationship does your chosen theory have to these other two theories? What theoretical foundations are present in its subject, mode of analysis, and/or understanding of humanity?