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Introduction
1
‘Doing’ literary theory is often more confusing and frustrating than it ought to be. The central problem is one of application. It might be nice to know what Foucault thinks of institutionalised thinking, or Derrida of negative theology, but of what use is such knowledge? Typically, the neophyte brings his innocent enthusiasm to a range of theories which seem to require mastering before he feels able even to begin to read in an informed way. As he or she (student, auto-didact or interested general reader) looks over reading lists, measuring weeks in hand against great names to be conquered, he or she may well feel ‘thorough’ is a synonym for ‘impossible.’
This is most obvious when we consider the situation of the typical first-year literature undergraduate. As part of his or her induction into the more demanding work to come, he or she will probably be offered several introductory modules, which aim to provide an overview of the method of a select number of schools of criticism and to apply each type of reading to a sample text.