Following a scene-setting Introduction which reflects on the state of theory today, the 11 chapters in this volume introduce new areas of critical thinking which go beyond the standard isms: Literary Reading in a Digital Age; Critical Making in the Digital Humanities; Thing Theory; Memory Work and Criticism; Body, Objects, Technology; Criticism and The Animal; Multimodality and Linguistic Approaches to Literary Study; Critical and Creative Practice: Conditions for Success in the Writing Workshop; Affect Theory; Spectrality; Critical Climate Change. A final rounding off chapter on Historicising presents debates around historically oriented criticism, including a round table among the contributors. Each chapter also provides a critical case study of a text or texts, including poetry writing guides, a Seamus Heaney poem, film adaptations of Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice and Charlotte Brontës Jane Eyre, e-readers and kindles, First World War poetry and prose, steampunk, and Robert Macfarlanes The Old Ways. From Thing Theory to animal theory, multimodality to film adaptation, and from acts of reading in a digital age to the creative writing workshop, the volume reflects a radical reorientation in critical modes of thinking. Key Features: Presents cutting-edge debates presented to more advanced students in an engaging yet sophisticated way Provides a wide range of case studies including poetry, film, reading devices, popular fiction & non-fiction prose Reflects newly emerging ways of teaching critical ideas in the classroom Opens criticism to dialogue and possibility Read more...
