The Good: Bressler provides great coverage of Deconstruction and excepts from Derrida that illuminate historical context and help to show the reader how the development and implementation of Deconstruction paved the way for later theories such as Feminist theory and Queer theory. (Unfortunately Bressler doesn't make this connection explicitly and it's left to the reader to make these connections.) Bressler also gives a fairly basic and easy to understand overview of Russian Formalism and New Criticism which seem to be the most commonly taught literary criticism techniques in high school English classes. The Bad: This book absolutely fails in its coverage of Feminist Theory and Queer Theory. While the previous chapters were composed of full pages of text, historical information, and suggestions for applying the particular theory at hand to a text, both the Feminist theory and Queer theory chapters have TWO AND A HALF pages of short quotes from a variety of figures rather than in depth coverage of the theory itself! These quotes are a collection that Bressler presumably thought applied to their respective theories but in no way help the reader to understand underlying assumptions of the theories or how to apply the theories. Conclusion: I was really looking forward to this text (despite the hefty price tag) because it included chapters on contemporary theoretical orientations such as Feminist theory, Queer theory, and Ecocriticism. However, these chapters offer at best cursory coverage providing a few historical sketches of important figures but do not delve into the underpinnings of the literary analysis techniques. And, in the case of Feminist theory and Queer theory, Bressler waste a full two and half pages on a smattering of quotes rather than using that space to more fully explain the theories. If you are looking for a full and more comprehensive coverage of literary theory that includes more contemporary theoretical orientations, this is NOT the book for you.
