Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: An Overview

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The most exhaustive mapping of contemporary literary theory to date, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the current state of the field of contemporary literary theory. Examining 75 key topics across 15 chapters, it provides an approachable and encyclopedic introduction to the most important areas of contemporary theory today.

Proceeding broadly chronologically from early theory all the way through to postcritique, Di Leo masterfully unpacks established topics such as psychoanalysis, structuralism and Marxism, as well as newer topics such as trans* theory, animal studies, disability studies, blue humanities, speculative realism and many more.

Featuring accessible discussion of the work of foundational theorists such as Lacan, Derrida and Freud as well as contemporary theorists such as Haraway, Braidotti and Hayles, it offers a magisterial examination of an enormously rich and varied body of work.

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 Leos 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 informativeand, at times, reflectivediscussion 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 Leos 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 *

Author Bio

JEFFREY R. DI LEO is Professor of English and Philosophy at the University of Houston-Victoria, USA. He is Editor of the journal symploke, and Executive Director of the Society for Critical Exchange and its Winter Theory Institute. His recent publications include The Bloomsbury Handbook of Literary and Cultural Theory (Bloomsbury, 2019), Whats Wrong with Antitheory (Bloomsbury, 2020), Vinyl Theory (2020), Happiness (2023), Selling the Humanities (2023), Dark Academe: Capitalism, Theory, and the Death Drive in Higher Education (2024), Out of Print (2024), and Theory as World Literature (Bloomsbury, 2025).