Introducing Critical Theory

Icon Books (UK), Totem books (USA). Published 2001 (ISBN 1-84046-264-7)

Written by Stuart Sim, Illustrated / designed by Borin Van Loon
The last few decades have seen an explosion in the production of critical theories:
deconstructionists,
poststructuraliststs,
postmodernists,
second-wave feminists,
new historicists,
cultural materialists,
postcolonialists,
black critics,
queer theorists...
to name but a few. The world around us can look very different depending on the critical theory applied to it. This vast range of interpretations can leave one feeling confused and frustrated. Introducing Critical Theory provides a route through the tangled jungle of competing theories. It provides a context for these recent developments by situating them within the longer-term tradition of critical analysis going back to the rise of Marxism. The essential methods of each theoretical school are presented in an incisive and accessible manner. Special attention is paid to recurrent themes and concerns that have preoccupied a century of critical activity.

In design terms, the main feature of each spread in this book is the use of a simple ruled border at top and right linking three iconic faces: square, circular and triangular. The regularity of this feature is varied by making the circular face different on each spread (over 80 expessions!), often interacting with the text. This title embodies much of the whole 'Introducing' series and therefore many of the portraits of the leading figures: there are well over 100 in the book including seven or eight of Karl Marx...

Reviews

This books is best for those who are new to Intercultural Study, it is all embracing. (http://zerosbook.org)

This book, part of a series (basically "Philosophy for dummies") will be purchased by stressed-out college students trying to write term papers for literature class. After getting totally confused by the impenetrable writing of the great theorists themselves, students will turn to this book hoping to get some light. The book gives a decent overview of the major theories, trying to put them in common language, something the theorists themselves seem incapable of writing in. It goes so far as to use cartoons to get the points across. While it will help sort out Deconstruction from Formalism and so on, don't count on this to save your term paper the night before its due. There's not enough detail on any of the theories to stand alone, and they are presented in a strange order. Also, some of the major schools of criticism (like New Criticism) don't appear. The author is obviously quite fond of Marxism. Unfortunately, the author also slides into some of the same kind of mumbo-jumbo as the original theorists themselves. The idea is still a great one, however. If you read this, then some of the more specific books that follow (Introducing Lacan, Derrida, etc) it may help get you started.Hey, if the alternative is trying to sort through Derrida and Barthes themselves, then anything has got to be better. [4 star review] (http://www.fetchbook.info)

Critical Thinking
During my time at university, Critical Theory was largely attributed to the Frankfurt School. But a recent reference suggested a broader base, so just to check it out I bought Sim's introduction. Sure enough, the contributors to Critical Theory has been far more extensive (and varied) that I had originally been led to believe. What Critical Theory turns out to be is a network of concepts, covering a wide spectrum of positions, often with contradictory perspectives on the many issues and ideas involved. One fruitful way of describing it, is as the historical inheritor of what Destutt de Tracy tried to create as a science of ideas just after the French Revolution (the study of which he named Ideology). Critical Theory is a succession of deconstructions of prevalent ideas, always with the objective to reveal their implications and debunk their pretensions. An interesting technique, but prone by some practitioners to McLuhan's Reversal Effect, wherein the tendency to push methods to extremes will undermine their early accomplishments. So Sim urges balance and caution - a wise piece of advice for the application of every technique. 'Illustrating concepts' by William Sheridan (http://www3.sympatico.ca/cypher/concepts.htm)

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