The Philosophy of Modern Literary Theory

(Paperback)

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The Philosophy of Modern Literary Theory presents a short introduction to the problems, theories and concepts of literary criticism, from Anglo-American New Criticism to Deconstruction and Postmodernism. The book argues that modern theories can only be properly understood when placed in the philosophical and aesthetic context in which they originated and evolved. The book ranges across not just the philosophical underpinnings of English Literature but also the critical literatures of Eastern Europe, France, Germany, Italy and North America. For the first time, the major schools of literary theory - from Marxism to psychoanalysis to Critical Theory - are set within their philosophical context. The theorists discussed include Adorno, Bakhtin, Barthes, Benjamin, Croce, Derrida, Eco, Fish, Gadamer, Goldmann, Greimas, Hegel, Heidegger, Jakobson, Jameson, Jauss, Kant, Lukacs, Lyotard, de Man, Mannheim, Marx and Nietzsche.

Reviews

"'A much needed contribution to a debate that has for too long been conducted on very shaky ground. Zima's book is by no means yet another contrastive study of contemporary literary theory or a narrow investigation into the ideology of the aesthetic. It is the most comprehensive and thorough attempt to outline a philosophical and aesthetic genealogy of the many theories that have shaped current literary scholarship'. Rainer Emig, University of Wales, Cardiff"

Author Bio

Peter V. Zima is Professor of General and Comparative Literature and Director of the Institute of General and Comparative Literature at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria.