Students of literary theory have been well provided for by the publication of various Readers in literary theory. However, the relation between theory and critical practice still presents a problem to the general reader. This book brings together essays by major critics which apply theory to practice in an accessible way. This will help a general literary readership gain a better understanding of the various types of theoretical criticism, see theory being applied to practice powerfully and persuasively, and encourage students to use theory in their own critical writing.

Introduction
The New Criticism and Leavis (Cleanth Brooks, F.R.Leavis)
Formalism, Dialogism, Structuralism (Shklovsky, Bakhtin, David Lodge)
Reader-Response (Wolfgang Iser, Stanley Fish)
Post-Structuralism (J.Hillis Miller, Spivak, Catherine Belsey, S.Felman)
Gender and Race (Showalter, Barbara Johnson, Henry Louis Gates Jr.)
Politics and History (Eagleton, Greenblatt, Alan Sinfield, Edward Said)
Notes
Further Reading
Index.