- Introducing... Critical Theory -
a graphic guide
Icon Books (UK), Totem books
(USA). Written by Stuart Sim,
Illustrated / designed by Borin Van Loon
The last few decades have seen an explosion in the production of
critical
theories:
deconstructionists,
poststructuraliststs,
postmodernists,
second-wave feminists,
new historicists,
cultural materialists,
postcolonialists,
black critics,
queer theorists...
to name but a few. The world around us can look very different
depending
on the critical theory applied to it. This vast range of
interpretations
can leave one feeling confused and frustrated. Introducing
Critical Theory
provides a route through the tangled jungle of competing theories. It
provides
a context for these recent developments by situating them within the
longer-term
tradition of critical analysis going back to the rise of Marxism. The
essential
methods of each theoretical school are presented in an incisive and
accessible
manner. Special attention is paid to recurrent themes and concerns that
have preoccupied a century of critical activity.
In design terms, the main
feature of each spread in this book is the
use of a simple ruled border at top and right linking three iconic
faces:
square, circular and triangular. The regularity of this feature is
varied
by making the circular face different on each spread (over 80
expessions!),
often interacting with the text. This title embodies much of the whole
'Introducing'
series and therefore many of the portraits of the leading figures:
there
are well over 100 in the book including seven or eight of Karl Marx...
Reviews
One of my most
memorable introductions to literature in my youth was the Classic
Comics series. As it turns out, I was not alone in this - many
adults have confirmed that they too developed an initial appreciation
of the world's literary heritage by way of first exposure through
Classic Comics. The idea was such a good one that two groups, one in
the United Kingdom and the other in the United States have used the
same technique to create and publish series of "documentary classic
comics", overviews of ideas and people that summarize conceptual basics
by combining caricature and text. This technique is a "multimedia"
approach to presenting material - by engaging two sensory modalities,
and displaying wit and humour as well as insight, the content is far
more readily absorbed AND remembered.
Each of these books can serve as either an introduction for the novice,
or a review for the acquainted reader. I recommend these books far more
readily than actually going to the originals. Why? As a knowledge
manager, I know that usually the substantive content is actually
contained in less that 20% of an entire document. The rest is
explication, elaboration, and examples - but speaking for myself
personally, I don't need Plato's tour through ancient Athens to get his
central message about the desirability of organizing social life on the
basis of idealism and elitism! If a reader wants follow-up after that,
by all means go to the originators or their epigones, but I am looking
for concepts that are relevant to present circumstances, with a minimum
of extraneous details... Critical Thinking
During my time at university, Critical Theory was largely attributed to
the Frankfurt School. But a recent reference suggested a broader base,
so just to check it out I bought Sim's introduction. Sure enough, the
contributors to Critical Theory has been far more extensive (and
varied) that I had originally been led to believe. What Critical Theory
turns out to be is a network of concepts, covering a wide spectrum of
positions, often with contradictory perspectives on the many issues and
ideas involved. One fruitful way of describing it, is as the historical
inheritor of what Destutt de Tracy tried to create as a science of
ideas just after the French Revolution (the study of which he named
Ideology). Critical Theory is a succession of deconstructions of
prevalent ideas, always with the objective to reveal their implications
and debunk their pretensions. An interesting technique, but prone by
some practitioners to McLuhan's Reversal Effect, wherein the tendency
to push methods to extremes will undermine their early accomplishments.
So Sim urges balance and caution - a wise piece of advice for the
application of every technique.
I have more of these books on my shelf, and I am looking forward to
reading all of them. So for instance, if you haven't time to read
Hegel's THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF MIND (at just under 800 pages), read
INTRODUCING HEGEL at 176 pages - its much shorter, better illustrated,
and covers all of the rest of Hegel's writings in addition to the
PHENOMENOLOGY!
William Sheridan: ILLUSTRATING
CONCEPTS
(http://www3.sympatico.ca/cypher/concepts.htm)
Off to read English
Literature at University?
As the beginning of the first university term of the academic year is
fast approaching, it seemed a good moment to blog about these nifty
little tomes. Publishers Icon have a series of 'Introducing ...' guides which make
an excellent starting point for getting your head around literary
theory as an undergraduate. They are graphic guides not unlike the '...for beginners' series and as
such provide a visual representation of the complexities of theory. I
have been sent three to review, Critical
Theory, Foucault and Freud, but there is an enormous
range of use to anyone wrestling with literary or cultural theory
including Postmodernism, Derrida, Marxism etc.
Literary theory can be such a shock to the system: after A levels
enjoying Shakespeare or Jane Austen, the convoluted dryness of this
kind of non-fiction can seem contrary to what drew you to study
literature in the first place. Literary or cultural theory
is complex and nothing is going to make it simple, but these
guides provide another way into the subject, another means of
contriving hooks on which to hang all the new information with which
you are bombarding your brain. Introducing Critical Theory: A
Graphic Guide by Stuart Sim and Borin van Loon roughly
takes one concept per page or double spread and attempts to summarise
it. There are cartoons and other graphics but the sentences used are no
shorter than standard theorizing I'm afraid! One of the wonderful
things I first discovered inside is a family tree of cultural and
critical theories from the Enlightenment to the late twentieth century.
This is the first time I have seen anything or anyone render so
neat the relationships between, for example, J F Lyotard, 2nd
wave feminism, the French Revolution, neuro-psychiatry,
postcolonialism, Umberto Eco, Utopian socialism, Russian formalism and
so on. As to the rest it is truly a dip-in style of book with intense
compact segments of information...
... I also found Introducing
Critical Theory: A Graphic Guide excellent as a
refresher having not read much theory over the last few years. It
is a neat reference book having a good glossary and a rather shorter
index which gets you to the heart of each concept very quickly. As such
I would have been glad of it as I embarked on my MA too.
Catherine Hawley, who has a degree in English from the University of
Sheffield and an MA on the Eighteenth Century novel, runs
www.clhawley.co.uk online bookshop. (http://juxtabook.typepad.com/books/2009/09/off-to-read-english-literature-at-university.html)
This books is best for those who are
new to
Intercultural Study, it is
all
embracing. (http://zerosbook.org)
This
book, part of a series (basically "Philosophy for dummies")
will be purchased by stressed-out college students trying to write term
papers for literature class. After getting totally confused by the
impenetrable
writing of the great theorists themselves, students will turn to this
book
hoping to get some light. The book gives a decent overview of the major
theories, trying to put them in common language, something the
theorists
themselves seem incapable of writing in. It goes so far as to use
cartoons
to get the points across. While it will help sort out Deconstruction
from
Formalism and so on, don't count on this to save your term paper the
night
before its due. There's not enough detail on any of the theories to
stand
alone, and they are presented in a strange order. Also, some of the
major
schools of criticism (like New Criticism) don't appear. The author is
obviously
quite fond of Marxism. Unfortunately, the author also slides into some
of
the same kind of mumbo-jumbo as the original theorists themselves. The
idea
is still a great one, however. If you read this, then some of the more
specific
books that follow (Introducing Lacan, Derrida, etc) it may help get you
started.Hey, if the alternative is trying to sort through Derrida and
Barthes
themselves, then anything has got to be better. [4 star review] (http://www.fetchbook.info)
Critical
Thinking
During my time at university, Critical Theory was largely attributed to
the Frankfurt School. But a recent reference suggested a broader base,
so
just to check it out I bought Sim's introduction. Sure enough, the
contributors
to Critical Theory has been far more extensive (and varied) that I had
originally
been led to believe. What Critical Theory turns out to be is a network
of
concepts, covering a wide spectrum of positions, often with
contradictory
perspectives on the many issues and ideas involved. One fruitful way of
describing it, is as the historical inheritor of what Destutt de Tracy
tried
to create as a science of ideas just after the French Revolution (the
study
of which he named Ideology). Critical Theory is a succession of
deconstructions
of prevalent ideas, always with the objective to reveal their
implications
and debunk their pretensions. An interesting technique, but prone by
some
practitioners to McLuhan's Reversal Effect, wherein the tendency to
push
methods to extremes will undermine their early accomplishments. So Sim
urges
balance and caution - a wise piece of advice for the application of
every
technique. 'Illustrating concepts' by William Sheridan (http://www3.sympatico.ca/cypher/concepts.htm)
-
Introducing... Critical Theory -
a graphic guide
