Leonard Orr - Böcker

This volume is a collection of eight of the papers presented at The First Biennial Conference of The Latin American Consortium, entitled "Narrative Practices and Cultural Discourse," held in 1990 at the University of Notre Dame. Taking a specific Latin American focus, the essays test an eclectic array of works in Latin American narrative literature against concepts and issues in poststructuralist critical theory.The contributors cross many regional, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries. Their essays encompass such timely issues as the possible correlations among postructuralism, postindustrialism, postmodernism, postcolonialism, and the Latin American literary postboom, as well as how Latin American writing has both responded to and participated in these socio-cultural developments. One commonality exists among all the essays: none of them treat works of Latin American narrative literature independent of the historical, critical, and theoretical discourses that have built up around them.By initiating a more direct dialogue among critical theorists, Latin American writers and intellectuals, and scholars of Latin American culture and society, this stimulating collection strive to promote a more accurate assessment and realistic articulation of the significance of Latin American literature, and of the cultural impact its narratives have on local, national, and international levels.Contributors: John Beverley, Fernando Coronil, Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, Ricardo Gutiérrez Mouat, Fredric Jameson, Amy Kaminsky, Mary Louise Pratt, Luisa Valenzuela.

Interest in critical theory has grown enormously since the end of the 1960s and now seems to be fully integrated into most university programs. Leonard Orr has prepared a much needed historical and international dictionary of the language of critical theory. He includes terms that have appeared with great frequency in the indexes to anthologies of critical theory, either general or specific to a period or school; terms that have appeared in the indexes to standard histories of criticism; schools of criticism or broad types of criticism; and key terms from foreign-language critical theory. All definitions are written from the perspective of literary critical use. The entries generally include source information. Whenever possible, the reader is referred to sources in English. Cross-references are also provided as appropriate.While the majority of readers of this work will be faculty members and graduate students in English, foreign literatures, or comparative literature, the definitions are accessible enough to be useful for undergraduates and non-academics.

For students and scholars of literary theory, this unique volume provides organized access to a diverse body of literature. The 5,523 entries include listings of books, articles, and dissertations culled from such sources as the MLA International Bibliography, Dissertation Abstracts, Language and Language Behavior Abstracts, and the annual bibliography of the Modern Humanities Research Association. . . . Researchers can look forward to a Dictionary of Critical Theory, and a Handbook of Critical Theory by the same author within the next two years. Recommended, for its comprehensive coverage and currency, to graduate-level collections. ChoiceEncompassing the variety of critical theories, the theoretical approaches, or schools influenced by continental theorists and philosophers that came to prominence beginning in the mid-1960s, this volume contains substantial, representative, and indexed bibliographies to assist researchers of specific topics in critical theory or those seeking works by major theorists. Nearly all-inclusive for the 1965-1987 period--a number of important works through August 1988 are also listed--the more than 5,500 works include books, articles, and dissertations available in English, French, or German and range from introductory to advanced levels; 350 of the works are listed in more than one section for the user's convenience. Readers are guided to appropriate works by the user-friendly, twelve-major-section format that classifies works on theory following the generally accepted names of current critical approaches including: structuralism, semiotics, narratology, psychological criticism, sociological criticism, feminist criticism, reader response criticism, reception aesthetics, phenomenological criticism, hermeneutics and deconstruction, post-structuralist, and post-deconstructive criticism. Each section has an index and may be used independently of the other sections. These section indexes are grouped together following the Classified Bibliography. Two additional indexes, a general index that aids in locating works covering more than one theory or that have not been classified into one of the theories, and an author index that applies to the entire bibliography, complete the volume.Sources for the bibliography include annual bibliographies of the MLA, the MHRA, and such works as Dissertations Abstracts International and Language and Language Behavior Abstracts as well as database searches for topics, keywords, and theorists. Companion volumes to this work, A Dictionary of Critical Theory and A Handbook of Critical Theory will be published within the next two years by Greenwood Press.

Best known as the author of Heart of Darkness (1899), Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) is one of the most widely taught writers in English. His mastery of the English language is especially notable, for he was born in a Ukrainian area of Poland under Czarist Russian rule and began a sea career in France. He joined the British merchant fleet, and his travels took him to European imperial outposts throughout Asia, South America, and Africa. To pass the monotonous time on land between journeys, he began to write fiction in English. Never quite at home anywhere, he spoke a thickly accented mix of English, Polish, and French. He sometimes posed as a flirtatious Frenchman, a fallen Polish nobleman, and an English country squire and man of letters. Like many writers, his works reflect his experiences. Interest in his writings has become especially strong, in light of their relationship to marginality and postcolonialism.As a reference book, this volume is a comprehensive guide to Conrad's troubled life and enduring literary legacy. An opening biographical chapter tells the story of his difficulties, adventures, and achievements. It also summarizes the current state of biographical research on Conrad and provides a useful context for approaching his works. The chapter that follows builds on the biography by discussing the importance of Conrad's letters to our understanding of his life and writings. Additional chapters examine each of his major works, while others address clusters of his later novels, his short fiction, and his essays and memoirs. Each chapter is written by an expert contributor and offers a combination of summary and original scholarship. Thus the volume provides important biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information to those readers new to Conrad, while it simultaneously gives experienced readers a wealth of fresh critical perspectives.

In the last twenty-five years, there has been a revolution in literary study in the English-speaking world involving two related shifts in understanding. One is the recognition that the study of literature requires a theoretical grounding, and the other is an acknowledgement that such a grounding is contingent upon the realization that ours is a postmodernist world. Despite much resistance from traditional literary historians and formalist critics, both of these assumptions influence many of today's most forceful and insightful academic literary analyses.Yet, Yeats scholarship has remained largely embedded in traditional modes of critical theory. For the first time, this collection of original essays applies a wide spectrum of contemporary critical theories to major works in the Yeats canon, serving as models of how to read and work with Yeats from a postmodernist/poststructuralist perspective.R. B. Kershner, for example, uses Bakhtin and medical/psychological studies of dyslexia to consider the written versus the oral and the inner dialogization of Yeats's writing; Cheryl Herr provides a juxtaposition of the major concepts of Foucault's work, especially the notion of the episteme from The Order of Things as applied to Yeats's Vision; and Ronald Schleifer considers the designing gestures of postmodern rhetoric found in Yeats, using the work of Lyotard, Jameson, O'Hara, and Derrida.These and other provocation essays, which challenge us to rethink out most basic notions of how to read Yeats, offer ample evidence of the remarkable new perceptions that can be gained from applying poststructuralist criticism to Yeats.

On the surface, James Joyce's work is largely a political. Through most of the twentieth century he was the proud embodiment of the rootless intellectual. However, perspectives on the colonial history of Ireland have proliferated in recent years, yielding a subtle and complex conception of the Irish postcolonial experience that has become a major theme in current Joyce scholarship. Highly original and often provocative, these essays bring Joyce powerfully within the ambit of postcolonial studies.

A critical examination of "White Noise" by Don Delillo, this title forms part of a series that aims to provide accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to give a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.The books in the series all follow the same five-part structure: a short biography of the novelist; a full-length study of the novel, drawing out the most important themes and ideas; a summary of how the novel was received when it was first published; a summary of the novel's standing today, including any film or television adaptations; and a helpful list of discussion questions, suggestions for further reading, and useful websites.

This is a concise, authoritative but very readable guide to "The Turn of the Screw", offering students a guide to contexts, language, criticism and reading the text. Henry James' ghost story novella, "The Turn of the Screw" (1898) is a key gothic text and is one of the most popular James texts for undergraduate study. This is the ideal guide to the text, setting "The Turn of the Screw" in its historical, intellectual and cultural contexts, offering analysis of its themes, style and structure, providing exemplary close readings, presenting an up-to-date account of its critical reception and examining its afterlife in literature, film and popular culture. It includes points for discussion, suggestions for further study and an annotated guide to relevant reading. "Continuum Reader's Guides" are clear, concise and accessible introductions to key texts in literature and philosophy. Each book explores the themes, context, criticism and influence of key works, providing a practical introduction to close reading, guiding students towards a thorough understanding of the text. They provide an essential, up-to-date resource, ideal for undergraduate students.

This is a concise, authoritative but very readable guide to "The Turn of the Screw", offering students a guide to contexts, language, criticism and reading the text. Henry James's ghost story novella, "The Turn of the Screw" (1898) is a key gothic text and is one of the most popular James texts for undergraduate study. This is the ideal guide to the text, setting "The Turn of the Screw" in its historical, intellectual and cultural contexts, offering analysis of its themes, style and structure, providing exemplary close readings, presenting an up-to-date account of its critical reception and examining its afterlife in literature, film and popular culture. It includes points for discussion, suggestions for further study and an annotated guide to relevant reading. "Continuum Reader's Guides" are clear, concise and accessible introductions to key texts in literature and philosophy. Each book explores the themes, context, criticism and influence of key works, providing a practical introduction to close reading, guiding students towards a thorough understanding of the text. They provide an essential, up-to-date resource, ideal for undergraduate students.