Routledge Critical Thinkers
About the Book Series
Routledge Critical Thinkers is designed for students who need an accessible introduction to the key figures in contemporary critical thought. The books provide crucial orientation for further study and equip readers to engage with theorists' original texts.
The volumes in the Routledge Critical Thinkers series place each key theorist in his or her historical and intellectual context and explain:
- why he or she is important
- what motivated his or her work
- what his or her key ideas are
- who and what influenced the thinker
- who and what the thinker has influenced
- what to read next and why.
Featuring extensively annotated guides to further reading, Routledge Critical Thinkers is the first point of reference for any student wishing to investigate the work of a specific theorist.
Feminist Film Theorists: Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman, Teresa de Lauretis, Barbara Creed
1st Edition
By Shohini Chaudhuri
October 13, 2006
Focusing on the ground-breaking work of Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman, Teresa de Lauretis and Barbara Creed, this book explores how, since it began in the 1970s, feminist film theory has revolutionized the way that films and their spectators can be understood. Examining the new and distinctive ...
American Theorists of the Novel: Henry James, Lionel Trilling and Wayne C. Booth
1st Edition
By Peter Rawlings
July 27, 2006
The American theorists: Henry James, Lionel Trilling and Wayne C. Booth have revolutionized our understanding of narrative and have each championed the novel as an art form. Concepts from their work have become part of the fabric of novel criticism today, influencing theorists, authors and readers ...
Homi K. Bhabha
1st Edition
By David Huddart
February 14, 2006
Homi K. Bhabha is one of the most highly renowned figures in contemporary post-colonial studies. This volume explores his writings and their influence on postcolonial theory, introducing in clear and accessible language the key concepts of his work, such as 'ambivalence', 'mimicry', 'hybridity' ...
Louis Althusser
1st Edition
By Luke Ferretter
January 24, 2006
Best known for his theories of ideology and its impact on politics and culture, Louis Althusser revolutionized Marxist theory. His writing changed the face of literary and cultural studies, and continues to influence political modes of criticism such as feminism, postcolonialism and queer theory. ...
Jacques Lacan
1st Edition
By Sean Homer
January 10, 2005
Jacques Lacan is one of the most challenging and controversial of contemporary thinkers, as well as the most influential psychoanalyst since Freud. Lacanian theory has reached far beyond the consulting room to engage with such diverse disciplines as literature, film, gender and social theory. This ...
Stuart Hall
1st Edition
By James Procter
May 10, 2004
James Procter's introduction places Hall's work within its historical contexts, providing a clear guide to his key ideas and influences, as well as to his critics and his intellectual legacy. Stuart Hall has been pivotal to the development of cultural studies during the past forty years. Whether as...
Simone de Beauvoir
1st Edition
By Ursula Tidd
December 23, 2003
Simone de Beauvoir's groundbreaking work has transformed the way we think about gender and identity. Without her 1949 text The Second Sex, gender theory as we know it today would be unthinkable. A leading figure in French existentialism, Beauvoir's concepts of 'becoming woman' and of woman as '...
Julia Kristeva
1st Edition
By Noelle McAfee
December 09, 2003
One of the most original thinkers of the twentieth century, Julia Kristeva has been driving forward the fields of literary and cultural studies since the 1960s. This volume is an accessible, introductory guide to the main themes of Kristeva's work, including her ideas on:*semiotics and symbolism*...
Slavoj Zizek
1st Edition
By Tony Myers
December 03, 2003
Slavoj Zizek is no ordinary philosopher. Approaching critical theory and psychoanalysis in a recklessly entertaining fashion, Zizek's critical eye alights upon a bewildering and exhilarating range of subjects, from the political apathy of contemporary life, to a joke about the man who thinks he's a...
Roland Barthes
1st Edition
By Graham Allen
September 29, 2003
Roland Barthes is a central figure in the study of language, literature, culture and the media. This book prepares readers for their first encounter with his crucial writings on some of the most important theoretical debates, including:*existentialism and Marxism*semiology, or the 'language of ...
Friedrich Nietzsche
1st Edition
By Lee Spinks
July 23, 2003
It is difficult to imagine a world without common sense, the distinction between truth and falsehood, the belief in some form of morality or an agreement that we are all human. But Friedrich Nietzsche did imagine such a world, and his work has become a crucial point of departure for contemporary ...
Michel Foucault
1st Edition
By Sara Mills
June 24, 2003
It is impossible to imagine contemporary critical theory without the work of Michel Foucault. His radical reworkings of the concepts of power, knowledge, discourse and identity have influenced the widest possible range of theories and impacted upon disciplinary fields from literary studies to ...