Literary Criticism: An Introductory Reader

"Literary Criticism: An Introductory Reader is an anthology of key writings on literature and literary criticism by thinkers ranging from Plato to W. K. Wimsatt and M. C. Beardsley. For readers who encounter the paper 'Literary Criticism' for the first time, the book is an ideal starting point to engage with the way in which literary criticism is not only conceived and theorized but also practiced. It is organized chronologically into five annotated sections that are each preceded by a brief introduction that summarizes the arguments presented by the thinkers included therein. The (general) 'Introduction' to the volume engages with the manner in which (literary) criticism needs to respond to the demands set by aesthetic production in the contemporary period. The concluding section of the book is followed by a bibliography that might be beneficial to those who wish to engage further with the various aspects of the theory and practice of literary criticism. Readers will be able to make the best use of Literary Criticism: An Introductory Reader if they read it in conjunction with Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay's edited volume Theoryisms: An Introduction. The latter work, in a sense, picks up the story of literary criticism from where the former leaves it. Chinmaya Lal Thakur is a PhD research scholar at the Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi."