دانلود کتاب Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice

This book holds to several basic premises. First, it assumes that there is no such thing as an innocent reading of a literary work: Whether our responses are emotional and spontaneous or well-reasoned and highly structured, all such interactions are based on some underlying factors that cause us to respond to a text in a particular fashion. What elicits these responses or how a reader makes sense or meaning out of a text is what really matters. Literary theory questions our responses, our interpretations, and our assumptions, beliefs, and feelings. To understand why we respond to a text in a certain way, we must first understand literary theory and criticism.
Second, since our reactions to any literary work or indeed any printed material have theoretical bases, I have assumed that all readers have a literary theory. Consciously or unconsciously, we as readers have developed a mind-set concerning our expectations when reading any text, be it a novel, a short story, a poem, or any other type of literature. Somehow, as Jonathan Culler maintains, we make sense out of printed material. The methods and techniques we use to frame our personal interpretations of any text directly involve us in the process of literary criticism and theory, and automatically make us practicing literary critics.
My third assumption rests on the observation that each reader's literary theory is either conscious or unconscious, complete or incomplete, informed or ill-informed, eclectic or unified. Since an unconscious, incomplete, ill-informed and eclectic literary theory often leads to illogical, unsound, and haphazard interpretations, I believe that a well-defined, logical, and clearly articulated theory will enable readers to develop their own personal methods of interpretation, permitting them to order, clarify, and justify their personal appraisals of a text in a consistent and logical manner.