Offering a refreshing combination of accessibility and intellectual rigor,How to Interpret Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studiespresents an up-to-date, concise, and wide-ranging historicist survey ofcontemporary thinking in critical theory. Ideal for upper-level undergraduateand graduate courses in literary and critical theory, this is the only book ofits kind that thoroughly merges literary studies with cultural studies,including film. Robert Dale Parker provides a critical look at the majormovements in literary studies since the 1930s, including those often omittedfrom other texts. He includes chapters on New Criticism, Structuralism,Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis, Feminism, Queer Studies, Marxism, Historicismand Cultural Studies, Postcolonial and Race Studies, and Reader Response. Parkerweaves connections among chapters, showing how these different ways of thinkingrespond to and build upon each other. Through these exchanges, he preparesstudents to join contemporary dialogues in literary and cultural studies.Parker's engaging writing style relates directly to today's students and theirdaily lives. He underscores the connections between critical theory andstudents' other coursework, as well as its links to their technologically filledlives. The text is enhanced by charts, text boxes that address frequently askedquestions, photos, and a bibliography. Intellectually challenging yet remarkably readable--and devoted to theinterpretation of both literary and cultural studies--How to InterpretLiterature stands out from other surveys of critical theory. Its flexible formatmakes this volume ideal as either a stand-alone text or in conjunction with ananthology of primary readings.