The Literary Theory Handbook introduces students to the history and scope of literary theory, showing them how to perform literary analysis, and providing a greater understanding of the historical contexts for different theories.

• A new edition of this highly successful text, which includes updated and refined chapters, and new sections on contemporary theories
• Far reaching in its inclusion of a detailed history of theory and in-depth discussions of major theories and movements
• Four distinct perspectives on theory—historical, thematic, biographical, practical—are carefully intertwined, so that key concepts, terms and ideas are developed in different contexts and cross-referenced, in the text and in the index.
• Includes alphabetically-arranged biographies designed for quick reference, and sample readings to illustrate the practical application of theory

Gregory Castle is a professor of British and Irish literature at Arizona State University. He is author of Modernism and the Celtic Revival (2001), Reading the Modernist Bildungsroman (2006), and The Blackwell Guide to Literary Theory (2007) and has  edited Postcolonial Discourses (2000) and the Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory, vol. 1 (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). He has also published numerous essays on Joyce, Yeats, Wilde, and other Irish writers.