An introduction to literature criticism and theory

Author(s): Andrew Bennett, Nicholas Royle

This book sets out to give an overview of a variety of different theories involved in literary criticism. Admittedly, it does present an incredible number of philosophies on more topics than most critics venture to consider.

I read this book as the text for a literary criticism class. The only truly good thing I can say about it is that it did promote a great deal of conversation each day. Basically, Bennett and Royle present so many theories for every topic that it is difficult to keep track of them. Often, the theories will contradict themselves several times in a single chapter and the authors provide only a cursory explanation of each theory. It often seemed that they gave us just enough information about a particular philosophical view that we knew it was beyond our comprehension and left us scratching our heads.

Additionally, I felt that the approach Bennett and Royle use is somewhat lacking. They attempt a style of writing in which they pose philosophical questions that will cause readers to stop and ponder ideas that they would not normally consider. However, the way that the authors go about this process often seems clumsy and undermines the other information that they are presenting.

Despite my dislike, I would say that it could be a useful text /if/ the reader understands the aim and layout (specifically that the authors want to present as many theories on a topic as possible regardless of interconnectedness and without thorough details) and if the reader uses it more as an introductory reference and ignores most of the author's commentary and philosophical musings.