FOURTH EDITION FOURTH EDITION

BEGINNING BEGINNING

BEGINNING THEORY
THEORY
An introduction to literary and cultural theory
THEORY
An introduction to literary and cultural theory
Beginning theory has been helping students navigate through the thickets of
literary and cultural theory for well over two decades now. This fourth edition
continues to offer readers the best single-volume introduction to the field.
The book has been updated with a new and expanded introduction, which pays
particular attention to the shifting names of the theories themselves, and
offers extended treatments of the most contested ‘isms’ which have become
prominent since the previous edition.
Two refreshed chapters on theory before and after ‘Theory’ top and tail this
new edition, and the reading lists and bibliography throughout have been
brought fully up-to-date.
The bewildering variety of approaches, theorists, and technical language
is lucidly and expertly unravelled. Unlike many books which assume certain
positions about the critics and the theories they represent, Beginning theory
allows readers to develop their own ideas once first principles and concepts
have been grasped.
Ø Liberal humanism Ø Structuralism Ø Post-structuralism and deconstruction
Ø Postmodernism ØPsychoanalytic criticism ØFeminist criticism

Ba rry
Ø Queer theory Ø Marxist criticism ØNew historicism and cultural materialism
Ø Postcolonial criticism Ø Stylistics Ø Narratology ØEcocriticism ØPresentism
Ø New aestheticism Ø Historical formalism ØCognitive poetics
Ø Consilience Ø Posthumanism
Peter Barry is Emeritus Professor of English at Aberystwyth University

‘There is no other book that offers such a comprehensive account of the field,
combined with thoughtful, detailed exposition of the theoretical approaches under FOURTH
discussion. Far from being a modest survey of contemporary literary theory, it
has had a vital role in shaping the way that theory is taught in Britain and North EDITION
America.’
English Association Newsletter
Cover images – Anticlockwise from top left: An Apple; Judith
Butler (with thanks to Judith); Cooper the Cat (with thanks
to Paul Clarke); and Jacques Derrida ISBN 978-1-5261-2179-0

9 781526 121790
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 Beginning theory

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 Beginnings
Series editors: Peter Barry and John McLeod

‘Beginnings’ is a series of books designed to give practical help to

students beginning to tackle recent developments in English, Literary
Studies and Cultural Studies. The books in the series
z demonstrate and encourage a questioning engagement with the
new;
z give essential information about the context and history of each
topic covered;
z show how to develop a practice which is up-to-date and informed by
theory.
Each book focuses uncompromisingly upon the needs of its readers,
who have the right to expect lucidity and clarity to be the distinctive
feature of a book which includes the word ‘beginning’ in its title.
Each aims to lay a firm foundation of well understood initial princi-
ples as a basis for further study and is committed to explaining new
aspects of the discipline without over-simplification, but in a manner
appropriate to the needs of beginners.
Each book, finally, aims to be both an introduction and a contribu-
tion to the topic area it discusses.

Also in the series

Beginning film studies (second edition)

Andrew Dix
Beginning realism
Steven Earnshaw
Beginning ethnic American literatures
Helena Grice, Candida Hepworth,
Maria Lauret and Martin Padget
Beginning Shakespeare
Lisa Hopkins
Beginning postcolonialism (second edition)
John McLeod
Beginning modernism
Jeff Wallace
Beginning postmodernism (second edition)
Tim Woods
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 Beginning theory
An introduction to
literary and cultural theory
Fourth edition

Peter Barry

Manchester University Press

Peter Barry - 9781526153524

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 Copyright © Peter Barry 1995, 2002, 2009, 2017

The right of Peter Barry to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for
any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or
appropriate.

First edition published 1995, reprinted nine times.

Second edition published 2002, reprinted seven times.
Third edition published 2009, reprinted seven times.

Published by Manchester University Press

Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA, UK

www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available

ISBN 978 1 5261 2179 0 paperback

This edition first published 2017

17 16 15 14 10 9 8 7 6

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