Table of Contents

Introduction
1 Early Theory
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Humanism
1.2 Rhetoric (or, the Quarrel Between Rhetoric and Philosophy)
1.3 Hermeneutics
1.4 Aestheticism
1.5 New Criticism
2 Structuralism and Semiotics
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Structure of the Sign (or, Saussure and Peirce)
2.2 Russian formalism
2.3 Roland Barthes
2.4 Claude Lévi-Strauss
2.5 Narratology
3 Marxism
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
3.2 The Adorno-Benjamin Debate
3.3 Mikhail Bakhtin
3.4 Louis Althusser
3.5 Fredric Jameson
4 Psychoanalytic Theory
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Sigmund Freud
4.2 Jacques Lacan
4.3 Harold Bloom
4.4 Félix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze
4.5 Slavoj Žižek
5 Poststructuralism
5.0 Introduction
5.1 Jacques Derrida
5.2 Julia Kristeva
5.3 Jean-François Lyotard
5.4 Jean Baudrillard
5.5 New Historicism
6 Feminist Theory
6.0 Introduction
6.1 First Wave
6.2 Second Wave
6.3 Third Wave and Beyond
6.4 Hélène Cixous
6.5 Luce Irigaray
7 LGBTQ+ Theory
7.0 Introduction
7.1 Lesbian and Gay Theory
7.2 Lesbian Feminism
7.3 Judith Butler
7.4 Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
7.5 Trans* Theory
8 Race and Justice
8.0 Introduction
8.1 Critical Race Theory
8.2 Law and Literature
8.3 Human Rights
8.4 Intersectionality
8.5 Subaltern Studies
9 Biopolitics
9.0 Introduction
9.1 Michel Foucault
9.2 Giorgio Agamben
9.3 Michael Hart and Antonio Negri
9.4 Surveillance Studies
9.5 Disability Studies
10 Globalization
10.0 Introduction
10.1 Postcolonial Theory
10.2 Border Studies
10.3 Neoliberalism
10.4 Translation
10.5 World Literature and Theory
11 Ecocriticism
11.0 Introduction
11.1 Green Theory
11.2 Critical Climate Change
11.3 Anthropocene
11.4 Geocriticism
11.5 Blue Humanities
12 Posthumanism
12.0 Introduction
12.1 Cyborg Theory
12.2 Animal Studies
12.3 Systems Theory
12.4 Cognitive Criticism
12.5 Speculative Realism
13 Affect Studies
13.0 Introduction
13.1 Queer Affect
13.2 Materialism
13.3 Presentism
13.4 Trauma Theory
13.5 Holocaust Studies
14 Pop Culture
14.0 Introduction
14.1 Cultural Studies
14.2 Media Studies
14.3 Sound Studies
14.4 Game Studies
14.5 Celebrity Studies
15 Against Theory
15.0 Introduction
15.1 Antitheory
15.2 Posttheory
15.3 Object-Oriented Ontology
15.4 Postcritique
15.5 New New Criticism
Notes
Index

Promotional Information

The most exhaustive mapping of contemporary literary theory to date, this book offers a comprehensive introduction and overview of the current state of the field of contemporary literary theory.

About the Author

Jeffrey R. Di Leo is Professor of English and Philosophy at the University of Houston-Victoria, USA.

Reviews

In its scope and ambition, this is a groundbreaking and authoritative reference work that will both define the field and provide an enduring point of orientation. Rich and always accessible, it is an invaluable guide for anyone interested in the study of contemporary literary theory.
*Allan Kilner-Johnson, Associate Professor in English Literature, University of Surrey, UK*

Unlike other mechanistic or “how-to” guides, Di Leo’s Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory is an ambitious and rigorous survey of theory from its ancient origins to the present that will be valuable for scholars seeking to understand new directions in (and against) theory as well as students encountering theoretical questions for the first time. Through careful explication and key quotations from primary texts, Di Leo nicely balances the need to provide both an informative—and, at times, reflective—discussion of High Theory, and a precise summary of those areas of theory such as LGBTQ+, Race and Justice, Biopolitics, and Ecocriticism that are most pressing for the field today.
*Michael Malouf, George Mason University, USA*

The scope of Di Leo’s book is vast and the depth of his knowledge profound. His critical argument is always lucid and engaging. The book achieves what Di Leo set out to do: provide a useful and illuminating map of the city of literary theory and cultural studies.
*Journal of Literary Studies/Tydskrif vir Literatuurwetenskap*

This book will thus be an essential guidebook and resource for the novice; a rigorous work of scholarship for the seasoned critic; a persuasive challenge to the skeptic; and, finally, it will provide motivation to those wearied humanists who need to replenish their source of inspiration.
*The Comparatist*