Critical theory and practice: A coursebook

Green, K., LeBihan J.  Critical theory and practice: A coursebook. London: Routledge. 1996

Green and LeBihan, both professors of literary studies, team up in this book to create a textual introduction to utilizing critical theory in the English classroom.  This book is compiled from their experiences teaching courses to undergraduate English majors for application to literary criticism, but the work actually addresses the use of the theory to create a method of practical application.  Critical Theory and Practice addresses the complications of the the growing lens of critical theory, but it does so with an awareness of the issues that arise because of it, and thus covers possible solutions. The duo explicates and breaks down the disagreements pertinent to literary theory, providing readers insight into selected literary texts and guiding them with adapted classroom experience and a prescriptive line of questioning.  The book is broken down into issues deemed important in the contemporary age: Language, Literature, History, Subjectivity, Feminism, Gender and Cultural Identity. This book acts to provoke engagement with the minds of readers, and to instigate genuine lines of questioning to open thought rather than promise answers.

Critical Theory and Practice does an excellent job of setting up a question-answer scenario for literary analysis that can readily apply to multiple genres. Its hybrid construction of observational methods and analysis of theoretical lenses makes for an ideal application to the review of travel writing and the implications of such composition.  Because the text is set up with a working glossary along with annotations, it gives a set of records for further investigation as to the complexity of analyzing certain textual genres, which can be extended to match the texts collected here for my research purposes.  Since I am hoping to identify the language employed within travel writing, especially in its latest most accessible form, I find the discoveries of this text as key insight.  Although this text does not cover digital writing as a medium, I will have to consider the technological and accessibility factors that may affect the use of critical theory.  Thankfully, the authors cover an expansive set of literary analysis terms: language, culture, literature, history, psychology, sociology, reading and writing, gender, difference, power and politics.  All of these terms combine to create the necessary lens through which to view the rhetoric of travel blogs.