Books in the Critics of the Twentieth Century series

Mikhail Bakhtin is one of the most influential theorists of philosophy as well as literary studies. His work on dialogue and discourse has changed the way in which we read texts. This book offers a commentary on Bakhtin's texts in all their complex and 'textuality'. It also examines Bakhtin's relationship to Russian Formalism and Soviet Marxism.

Examines the theoretical and practical dimensions of Habermas' debates with contemporary philosophy and the social sciences and the politically informed unity of his theory and practice.

Marian Hobson gives a thorough analysis of Jacques Derrida. Looking closely at the language and the construction of some of Derrida's philosophy, Hobson suggests the way he writes, indeed the fact he writes in another language, affects how he can be understood by English speakers.

Provides a detailed account of Gramsci's work in the context of current critical and socio-cultural debate, discussing his achievement in relation to the Frankfurt School - Adorno, Horkheimer, Benjamin, Bloch and Habermas.

In this study, Bradford reasserts the value of Jakobson's work on poetry and poetics. Exploring Jakobson's thesis that poetry is the primary object of language, he demonstrates how vital Jacobson's work is to an understanding of language and poetry.

An explanation of Geoffrey Hartman's ideas, this book places his work in the contexts of romanticism and Judaism and offers an introduction to his theories. The author has also written "The Faith of John Dryden" and "Quests of Difference: Reading Pope's Poems".

An examination of the methods by which Ezra Pound came to dominate the discourse of modernism, both as a major poet and as a principal publicist of the modernist movement.

An account of William Empson's career as a critic, this work sets out to rescue him from the conflicting camps of deconstruction and cultural criticism placing him alongside such critics as Walter Benjamin, Kenneth Burke and Roland Barthes.

This introduction to a major thinker whose ideas have influenced a wide range of disciplines, focuses on the centre point in Burke's thought - found in his pre-occupation with the relationship between language, ideology and action. It examines Burke's thought in the context of cultural theory.

This is an introduction to Northrop Frye, a 20th-century critic whose work on ideology, aesthetics and social criticism has ensured his place at the centre of cultural studies and contemporary theoretical debates. It surveys Frye's career, incorporating archival material and his published work.

The most comprehensive study to date of the theoretical and historical context of Williams' thinking on literature, politics and culture.

This examination of post-modern philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard's work traces his attacks on structuralism, Marxism and semiotics, contrasts his work with the literary deconstruction of Paul de Man and draws out the implications of post-structuralist attention to the art of reading.

This book should be of interest to teachers and students of literature, critical theory, philosophy and psychoanalysis.

Evolving from an initial concern with existentialism and phenomenology, the writings of Paul Ricoeur have progressed through structuralism and psychoanalysis to recent studies in literary theory. This study surveys the entire range of his work, stressing his contribution to the theory of narrative.

This book should be of interest to students of English literature, and cultural studies.