Literary Criticism From Plato To The Present: An Introduction

In clear, concise, and elegant prose, the acclaimed literary scholar M. A. R. Habib introduces major critical movements, figures, and texts, while paying close attention to textual detail, broader historical context, and the interconnections between various theories. Beginning with Classical literary criticism, the author goes on to explore literary criticism from the Middle Ages through the Early Modern and Modern periods into the twentieth century, including in his treatment major historical phenomena such as the French Revolution and major philosophies and political theories such as those of Locke and Marx. Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present is an indispensable and intellectually stimulating introduction to the history of literary criticism and theory. Part I Classical Literary Criticism and Rhetoric. · Classical Literary Criticism. · The Traditions of Rhetoric. · Greek and Latin Criticism During the Roman Empire. Part II The Medieval Era. · The Early Middle Ages. · The Later Middle Ages. Part III The Early Modern Period to the Enlightenment. · The Early Modern Period. · Neoclassical Literary Criticism. · The Enlightenment. · The Aesthetics of Kant and Hegel. Part IV Romanticism and the Later Nineteenth Century. · Romanticism. · Realism, Naturalism, Symbolism, and Aestheticism. · The Heterological Thinkers. Part V The Twentieth Century: A Brief Introduction. · From Liberal Humanism to Formalism. · Socially Conscious Criticism of the Earlier Twentieth Century. · Phenomenology, Existentialism, Structuralism. · The Era of Poststructuralism (I): Later Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Deconstruction. · The Era of Poststructuralism (II): Postmodernism, Modern Feminism, Gender Studies. · The Later Twentieth Century: New Historicism, Reader-Response Theory, Postcolonial Criticism, Cultural Studies. Index.