Rating: 
Summary: Clear..
Review: A clear presentation of what can be a very confusing subject. Each chapter presents a different type of theory and contains a selected bibliography divided into primary and secondary sources for further reading. It serves as a very good introduction to the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Clear..
Review: A clear presentation of what can be a very confusing subject. Each chapter presents a different type of theory and contains a selected bibliography divided into primary and secondary sources for further reading. It serves as a very good introduction to the subject.
Rating: 
Summary: Lois Tyson's book is a godsend.
Review: From teacher to teacher: Gretchen S. Cline, Muskegon Community College professor of English. I've used Tyson's book for the introduction to literature and composition course that I teach at an open admissions community college in Michigan. Lois Tyson's Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide (1999) is a godsend. Professor Tyson's book is the answer to what I've long envisioned as the ideal reference book for teachers wanting to introduce their students to critical theory, to increase their repertoire of literary "readings," and to implement diversity issues in the college classroom. This much needed reference guide has helped me to better understand and apply different critical approaches to literature, as I prepare, create, and develop meaningful classroom activities and writing assignments involving analysis and reading comprehension for both new and seasoned students. Indeed, Tyson's succinct overview of the different issues each theory raises along with the extremely helpful questions at the end of each chapter is truly user-friendly. Specifically, her book has helped me to raise issues and create questions for such works of literature as Ibsen's A Doll's House, Miller's Death of a Salesman, Wilson's The Piano Lesson, Bambara's "The Lesson," Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas," and Chopin's "Desiree's Baby" to name a few. While some of my colleagues might think that "this critical theory stuff" goes over the heads of community college students, frequently I encounter students who are curious and want to know more about "those critical essays" that already appear in their "introduction to literature" anthologies. In fact, most of the "introduction to literature" anthologies that I've reviewed contain cursory, vague, and overly complicated excerpts from a wide range of "established" academic critics. Tyson's book helps students and teachers create a "cultural" context for the different theories with language that is accessible to those new to theory. Furthermore, as a pedagogical tool, Tyson's book helps teachers help students to make connections between different kinds of value/belief systems that underlie the way they interpret literature and, more importantly, how they think about the world. Honest and straightforward, the tone of Tyson's book reflects a teacher who loves teaching and is thoroughly dedicated to her students; I will be forever grateful to her for sharing this huge and extremely important undertaking. Any community college, university, and even high school instructor wishing to incorporate lively discussions, multicultural/diversity sensitivity, and creative assignments into the classroom will benefit from Tyson's phenomenal book. You owe it to your students to read this one.
Rating:
Summary: A pleasure to read
Review: I am not a student of philosophy or literature. I read the book for the love of learning and reading. Prof. Tyson has made my extra effort (and less sleep time!) all worth while. Every theories are explained clearly. All the things that I heard in discussion groups, students newsgroups and at social occasions that I never understood. It's been slow but with every paragraph, I learn more. And that gives me joy.
Rating:
Summary: A breath of fresh air in literary appreciation
Review: I think that most undergraduate students will appreciate being wisely and gently shepherded into the wild fields of literary theory by professor Tyson's 1999 study. In fact, so will most lay reader lambs who innocently venture into what they thought were safe fields of, say, the Times Literary Supplement in hopes of deepening their appreciation of the classics and literary creativity. So many "academic" surveys cloak in academic wool their lupine ideological teeth, Tyson keeps a strong, healthy overview of the various schools (packs?) of critics. She appreciates the concerns and contributions of the various critical approaches without being co-opted; she shares their thoughtful contributions in "user-friendly" fashion without resorting to the cutesy "for dummie sheep" approach. An excellent guide through the tangled weavings of modern critical writings, analyzing with respect, exploring with optimistic skepticism. GENERAL READERS: Don't leave this "textbook" in the classroom; it is a most comfortable armour for venturing forth into the 21st Century literary world. If you were not fortunate enough to be one of Tyson's students, study with her here!
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Source of Literary Theory
Review: Instead of an anthology of countless philosophical texts which may seem almost impossible to read, Tyson introduces the major literary theories in clear and simple English. Even the chapter on deconstructive criticism is easy to follow! And she also cites excellent primary sources for those who are interested in a more advanced study of literary theory. All major theoretical approaches--psychoanalysis, Marxist, feminist, new criticism, structuralist, deconstructive, new historicism, reader-response, lesbian/gay/queer, postcolonial, and African-American--are thoroughly covered in Tyson's book. And to make things better, Tyson applies each of these theories to F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." So not only to we get to read about a theory, but we also get to see literary theory put into practice. A must read for any introductory course on literary theory; however, this book would also be a helpful guide post for the advanced study of literary theory.
Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking work makes critical theory accessible to all.
Review: Lois Tyson's "Critical Theory Today, A User-Friendly Guide" has profoundly changed the way I understand and experience literature. All the various lenses of current theories are lucidly and brilliantly brought into focus in a personable yet scholarly manner. An exciting must read for all those who love to read. It gives voice and consciousness to all the disparate sensibilities one has while reading. Important issues of psychology, class, gender, race, orientation among others are presented. The chapter on deconstruction made me laugh out loud with enjoyment while the feminist and African-American chapters brought into chilling focus the distance yet needed to be traveled for balance and equality. I will never be quite finished with Ms.Tyson's book for I will be referring to it for years to come as a truly user -friendly guide through literature, theater, cinema and all the cultural constructs I encounter.
Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking work makes critical theory accessible to all.
Review: Lois Tyson's "Critical Theory Today, A User-Friendly Guide" has profoundly changed the way I understand and experience literature. All the various lenses of current theories are lucidly and brilliantly brought into focus in a personable yet scholarly manner. An exciting must read for all those who love to read. It gives voice and consciousness to all the disparate sensibilities one has while reading. Important issues of psychology, class, gender, race, orientation among others are presented. The chapter on deconstruction made me laugh out loud with enjoyment while the feminist and African-American chapters brought into chilling focus the distance yet needed to be traveled for balance and equality. I will never be quite finished with Ms.Tyson's book for I will be referring to it for years to come as a truly user -friendly guide through literature, theater, cinema and all the cultural constructs I encounter.
Rating:
Summary: The book made my class a joy.
Review: Lois Tyson's Critical Theory Today transformed the 200-level Intro to Literary Studies class that I teach at Aquinas College. Other texts have frustrated and silenced students, but Tyson's book has made my class come alive. Tyson assumes that her readers are intelligent and capable people who need information, examples, and guidance (whereas other texts assume that readers should be crushed and abandoned), and she gives them all that they need in friendly prose. The clear explanations and applications made my students lively and willing to try new ideas. They not only understood the methodologies but also could apply them. I didn't change my teaching style; the credit for the improvement in my class goes to Tyson's excellent text. Please read it.
Rating:
Summary: Taking media seriously
Review: Prof. Tyson's text is a worthy companion to Mcluhan, Chomsky and even Joseph Campbell. The idea that one can find a "skeleton key" for literature is certainly not a new one, but forging your own key has become deliciously less difficult now that Lois Tyson's book is available. Don't like The Great Gatsby, that's okay, apply lit. theory to any available piece of writing, music, art...anything. That's the beauty of the whole process of critical discernment. The question of "what makes good art?" is always relevant, and now a substantial answer may be esier to come by. I return to this book every time I encounter a new concept in psych., sociology, philosophy...it applies to everything. Literature is only the begining.
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