CONTEMPORARY LITERARY AND CULTURAL THEORY - AN OVERVIEW

Sep 20, 2026

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A scholarly overview mapping major currents in contemporary literary and cultural theory. The book structures its discussion through foundational approaches and later developments, spanning humanism, rhetoric, hermeneutics, aestheticism, and New Criticism; then moving to structuralism and semiotics, Marxism, psychoanalytic theory, and poststructuralism. It further covers feminist, LGBTQ+, and race-and-justice frameworks, biopolitics and globalization, ecocriticism, posthumanism, affect studies, pop culture, and finally debates surrounding theory, antitheory, and postcritique.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages473

Reading Time12 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Early Theory

Humanism

Rhetoric (or, the Quarrel Between Rhetoric and Philosophy)

Hermeneutics

Aestheticism

New Criticism

Structuralism and Semiotics

Structure of the Sign (or, Saussure and Peirce)

Russian Formalism

Roland Barthes

Claude Lévi-Strauss

Narratology

Marxism

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

The Adorno–Benjamin Debate

Mikhail Bakhtin

Louis Althusser

Fredric Jameson

Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud

Jacques Lacan

Harold Bloom

Félix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze

Slavoj Žižek

Poststructuralism

Jacques Derrida

Julia Kristeva

Jean-François Lyotard

Jean Baudrillard

New Historicism

Feminist Theory

First Wave

Second Wave

Third Wave and Beyond

Hélène Cixous

Luce Irigaray

LGBTQ+ Theory

Lesbian and Gay Theory

Lesbian Feminism

Judith Butler

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

Trans* Theory

Race and Justice

Critical Race Theory

Law and Literature

Human Rights

Intersectionality

Subaltern Studies

Biopolitics

Michel Foucault

Giorgio Agamben

Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri

Surveillance Studies

Disability Studies

Globalization

Postcolonial Theory

Border Studies

Neoliberalism

Translation

World Literature and Theory

Ecocriticism

Green Theory

Critical Climate Change

Anthropocene

Geocriticism

Blue Humanities

Posthumanism

Cyborg Theory

Animal Studies

Systems Theory

Cognitive Criticism

Speculative Realism

Affect Studies

Queer Affect

Materialism

Presentism

Trauma Theory

Holocaust Studies

Pop Culture

Cultural Studies

Media Studies

Sound Studies

Game Studies

Celebrity Studies

Against Theory

Antitheory

Posttheory

Object-Oriented Ontology

Postcritique

New New Criticism

Bibliography

Index

CONTEMPORARY LITERARY AND CULTURAL THEORY ii CONTEMPORARY LITERARY AND CULTURAL THEORY AN OVERVIEW Jeffrey R. Di Leo BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2023 Copyright © Jeffrey R. Di Leo, 2023 Jeffrey R. Di Leo has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identiﬁed as Author of this work. For legal purposes the Acknowledgments on p. ix constitute an extension of this copyright page. Cover design by Annabel Hewitson Cover image © miakievy/iStock, texture © Anatolii Kovalov/iStock All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: HB: 978-1-3503-6616-9 ePDF: 978-1-3503-6613-8 eBook: 978-1-3503-6614-5 Typeset by ReﬁneCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk To ﬁnd out more about our authors and [books visit www.bloomsbury.com](books visit www.bloomsbury.com)[ ](books visit www.bloomsbury.com)and sign up for our newsletters. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix Introduction 1 1 Early Theory 11 1.0 Introduction 11 1.1 Humanism 12 1.2 Rhetoric (or, the Quarrel Between Rhetoric and Philosophy) 17 1.3 Hermeneutics 24 1.4 Aestheticism 30 1.5 New Criticism 33 2 Structuralism and Semiotics 41 2.0 Introduction 41 2.1 Structure of the Sign (or, Saussure and Peirce) 43 2.2 Russian Formalism 50 2.3 Roland Barthes 56 2.4 Claude Lévi-Strauss 61 2.5 Narratology 67 3 Marxism 73 3.0 Introduction 73 3.1 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels 76 3.2 The Adorno–Benjamin Debate 83 3.3 Mikhail Bakhtin 91 3.4 Louis Althusser 96 3.5 Fredric Jameson 102 4 Psychoanalytic Theory 109 4.0 Introduction 109 4.1 Sigmund Freud 112 4.2 Jacques Lacan 118 4.3 Harold Bloom 124 vi CONTENTS 4.4 Félix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze 130 4.5 Slavoj Žižek 136 5 Poststructuralism 143 5.0 Introduction 143 5.1 Jacques Derrida 147 5.2 Julia Kristeva 152 5.3 Jean-François Lyotard 157 5.4 Jean Baudrillard 163 5.5 New Historicism 169 6 Feminist Theory 175 6.0 Introduction 175 6.1 First Wave 179 6.2 Second Wave 185 6.3 Third Wave and Beyond 192 6.4 Hélène Cixous 198 6.5 Luce Irigaray 203 7 LGBTQ+ Theory 209 7.0 Introduction 209 7.1 Lesbian and Gay Theory 213 7.2 Lesbian Feminism 220 7.3 Judith Butler 225 7.4 Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick 229 7.5 Trans* Theory 235 8 Race and Justice 239 8.0 Introduction 239 8.1 Critical Race Theory 244 8.2 Law and Literature 247 8.3 Human Rights 250 8.4 Intersectionality 255 8.5 Subaltern Studies 258 9 Biopolitics 261 9.0 Introduction 261 9.1 Michel Foucault 263 9.2 Giorgio Agamben 268 9.3 Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri 271 9.4 Surveillance Studies 275 9.5 Disability Studies 278 CONTENTS vii 10 Globalization 283 10.0 Introduction 283 10.1 Postcolonial Theory 285 10.2 Border Studies 289 10.3 Neoliberalism 292 10.4 Translation 295 10.5 World Literature and Theory 298 11 Ecocriticism 303 11.0 Introduction 303 11.1 Green Theory 306 11.2 Criti

FAQs

What time span and scope does the overview cover in contemporary theory?

The table of contents moves from early theory (e.g., humanism and New Criticism) through later developments such as structuralism, Marxism, poststructuralism, and multiple themed expansions (feminist, LGBTQ+, race and justice, ecocriticism, posthumanism, and pop culture).

Which major theoretical traditions are included besides general literary criticism?

The book includes frameworks drawn from semiotics, Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism, LGBTQ+ theory, critical race approaches, biopolitics, globalization/postcolonial theory, and debates about theory itself (antitheory and postcritique).

How is the book organized for studying these theories?

It is organized as a sequence of numbered parts, each beginning with an introduction and then subdividing into specific thinkers or subfields (e.g., Freud, Lacan, Derrida, Kristeva, Butler, Foucault).

Sep 20, 2026

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