Now in its fifth edition, A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature has become both a standard introduction to the close reading of literature and an invaluable resource for English graduate students. It offers students and other readers a variety of ways to interpret a piece of literature, ranging from historical/biographical and moral/philosophical approaches through the formalist, the psychological, the mythic and archetypal, and into such contemporary perspectives as feminist criticism and cultural studies.

The book applies these diverse approaches to the same six classic works – To His Coy Mistress, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, Young Goodman Brown, Everyday Use and, new to this edition, Frankenstein – showing students how various methods offer different insights and enriching their response to and understanding of the individual works.

The fifth edition is enhanced by the addition of Frankenstein, a complex work that lends itself to multiple levels of interpretation and is familiar in both its cinematic and literary forms. The coverage of Frankenstein incorporates material on popular culture – discussions of various fiction, stage, film, and television appearances of the work – as well as several photographs. This edition also features organizational and content changes that bring the volume up-to-date with contemporary literary criticism.

Offering a valuable combination of theory and practice, A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, Fifth Edition, is ideal for courses in literary criticism or theory and can also be used in introduction to literature courses.

Illustrations Preface 1. GETTING STARTED: THE PRECRITICAL RESPONSE I. Setting II. Plot III. Character IV. Structure V. Style VI. Atmosphere VII. Theme 2. FIRST THINGS FIRST: TEXUAL SCHOLARSHIP, GENRES, AND SOURCE STUDY I. First, a Note on the Traditional Approaches II. Three Foundational Questions A. Textual Scholarship: Do We Have an Accurate Version of What We Are Studying? 1. General Observations 2. Text Study in Practice B. Matters of Genre: What Are We Dealing With? 1. An Overview of Genre 2. Genre Characteristics in Practice C. Source Study: Did Earlier Writings Help This Work Come into Being? 3. HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACHES I. General Observations II. Historical and Biographical Approaches in Practice A. "To His Coy Mistress" B. Hamlet C. Huckleberry Finn D. "Young Goodman Brown" E. "Everyday Use" F. Frankenstein 4. MORAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES I. General Observations II. Moral and Philosophical Approaches in Practice A. "To His Coy Mistress" B. Hamlet C. Huckleberry Finn D. "Young Goodman Brown" E. "Everyday Use" F. Frankenstein 5. THE FORMALIST APPROACH I. Reading a Poem: An Introduction to the Formalist Approach II. The Process of Formalist Analysis: Making the Close Reader III. A Brief History of Formalist Criticism A. The Course of a Half Century B. Backgrounds of Formalist Theory C. The New Criticism IV. Constants of the Formalist Approach: Some Key Concepts, Terms, and Devices A. Form and Organic Form B. Texture, Image, Symbol C. Fallacies D. Point of View E. The Speaker's Voice F. Tension, Irony, Paradox V. The Formalist Approach in Practice A. Word, Image, and Theme: Space-Time Metaphors in "To His Coy Mistress" B. The Dark, the Light, and the Pink: Ambiguity as Form in "Young Goodman Brown" 1. Virtues and Vices 2. Symbol or Allegory? 3. Loss upon Loss C. Romance and Reality, Land and River: The Journey as Repetitive Form in Huckleberry Finn D. Dialectic as Form: The Trap Metaphor in Hamlet 1. The Trap Imagery 2. The Cosmological Trap 3. "Seeming" and "Being" 4. "Seeing" and "Knowing" E. Irony and Narrative Voice: A Formalist Approach to "Everyday Use" F. Frankenstein: A Formalist Reading, with an Emphasis on Exponents VI. Limitations of the Formalist Approach 6. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH: FREUD I. Aims and Principles A. Abuses and Misunderstandings of the Psychological Approach B. Freud's Theories II. The Psychological Approach in Practice A. Hamlet: The Oedipus Complex B. Rebellion Against the Father in Huckleberry Finn C. Prometheus Manque The Monster Unbound D. "Young Goodman Brown": Id Versus Superego E. Death Wish in Poe's Fiction F. Love and Death in Blake's "Sick Rose" G. Sexual Imagery in "To His Coy Mistress" H. Morality over the Pleasure Principle in "Everyday Use" III. Other Possibilities and Limitations of the Psychological Approach 7. MYTHOLOGICAL AND ARCHETYPAL APPROACHES I. Definitions and Misconceptions II. Some Examples of Archetypes A. Images B. Archetypal Motifs or Patterns C. Archetypes as Genres III. Myth Criticism in Practice A. Anthropology and Its Uses 1. The Sacrificial Hero: Hamlet 2. Archetypes of Time and Immortality: "To His Coy Mistress" B. Jungian Psychology and Its Archetypal Insights 1. Some Special Archetypes: Shadow, Persona, and Anima 2. "Young Goodman Brown": A Failure of Individuation 3. Creature or Creator: Who Is the Real Monster in Frankenstein? 4. Syntheses of Jung and Anthropology C. Myth Criticism and the American Dream: Huckleberry Finn as the American Adam D. "Everyday Use": The Great [Grand]Mother IV. Limitations of Myth Criticism 8. FEMINISMS AND GENDER STUDIES I. Feminisms and Feminist Literary Criticism: Definitions II. Woman: Created or Constructed? A. Feminism and Psychoanalysis B. Multicultural Feminisms C. Marxist Feminism D. Feminist Film Studies III. Gender Studies IV. Feminisms in Practice A. The Marble Vault: The Mistress in "To His Coy Mistress" B. Frailty, Thy Name Is Hamlet: Hamlet and Women C. "The Workshop of Filthy Creation": Men and Women in Frankenstein 1. Mary and Percy, Author and Editor 2. Masculinity and Femininity in the Frankenstein Family 3. "I Am Thy Creature . . ." D. Men, Women, and the Loss of Faith in "Young Goodman Brown" E. Women and "Sivilization" in Huckleberry Finn F. "In Real Life": Recovering the Feminine Past in "Everyday Use" V. The Future of Feminist Literary Studies and Gender Studies: Some Problems and Limitations 9. CULTURAL STUDIES I. What Is (or Are) "Cultural Studies"? II. Five Types of Cultural Studies A. British Cultural Materialism B. New Historicism C. American Multiculturalism 1. African American Writers 2. Latina/o Writers 3. American Indian Literatures 4. Asian American Writers D. Postmodernism and Popular Culture 1. Postmodernism 2. Popular Culture E. Postcolonial Studies III. Cultural Studies in Practice A. Two Characters in Hamlet: Marginalization with a Vengeance B. "To His Coy Mistress": Implied Culture Versus Historical Fact C. From Paradise Lost to Frank-N-Furter: The Creature Lives! 1. Revolutionary Births 2. The Frankenpheme in Popular Culture: Fiction, Drama, Film, Television D. "The Lore of Fiends": Hawthorne and His Market E. "Telling the Truth, Mainly": Tricksterism in Huckleberry Finn E. Cultures in Conflict: A Story Looks at Cultural Change IV. Limitations of Cultural Studies 10. THE PLAY OF MEANING(S): READER-RESPONSE CRITICISM, DIALOGICS, AND STRUCTURALISM AND POSTSTRUCTURALISM, INCLUDING DECONSTRUCTION I. Reader-Response Criticism II. Dialogics III. Structuralism and Poststructuralism, Including Deconstruction A. Structuralism: Context and Definition B. The Linguistic Model C. Russian Formalism: Extending Saussure D. Structuralism, Levi Strauss, and Semiotics E. French Structuralism: Codes and Decoding F. British and American Interpreters G. Poststructuralism: Deconstruction Epilogue Appendix A, Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" Appendix B, Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Young Goodman Brown" Appendix C, Alice Walker, "Everyday Use: for your grandmama" Index

Wilfred L. Guerin – Professor of English, Louisiana State University, Shreveport (Emeritus)

Earle Labor – George A. Wilson Professor of American Literature, Centenary College

Lee Morgan – Professor of English, Centenary College (Emeritus)

Jeanne C. Reesman – Ashbel Smith Professor of English, University of Texas at San Antonio

John R. Willingham – Professor of English, University of Kansas (Emeritus)

'From the first edition on, I have chosen this Handbook over all the other "writing about literature" texts in competition with it because of the authors' basic methodology of explaining the theory, then following through with models of each theory applied to a cross section of literary genres (with Frankenstein, now including popular culture and film). Each audience finds this text to be so helpful and accessible that the most common response is "I wish I had known about this sooner!"'