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Rating: 
Summary: A Handy Intro. to a Popular Form of Intellectual Anarchy
Review: For those looking to see what exactly all of this talk about Post-Structuralism is about, this is a hand, dandy place to start. (I really do give kudos to whomever thought up this series of Very Short Introductions).Post-Structuralism looks at how language and words create our world. Rather than being a unified theory, however, post-structuralism consists of many different theories proposed by many different thinkers. All of these thinkers and their theories are gathered, for better or for worse, under the category "post-structuralism". Notable theorists are Saussure, Barthes, Lacan and Foucault (these names pop up a lot in all the various post- theories: post-structuralism, post-modernism, post-colonialism, etc.). Belsey traces the development of literary theory up to the present and discusses various thinkers strengths and weaknesses. She also distinguishes it from Deconstruction (founded by Jacques Derrida), which is related but not the same. She includes a selection of works that she recommends people read for further understanding of the object. Like all of the other Very Short Introductions that I have read, this one is well written, detailed and - as the title indicates - short. Whether you are the busy person who doesn't have the time to dip into more detailed introductions or the person with just some idle curiosity and a few bucks to spend, this is a great introduction.
Rating:
Summary: A Handy Intro. to a Popular Form of Intellectual Anarchy
Review: For those looking to see what exactly all of this talk about Post-Structuralism is about, this is a hand, dandy place to start. (I really do give kudos to whomever thought up this series of Very Short Introductions). Post-Structuralism looks at how language and words create our world. Rather than being a unified theory, however, post-structuralism consists of many different theories proposed by many different thinkers. All of these thinkers and their theories are gathered, for better or for worse, under the category "post-structuralism". Notable theorists are Saussure, Barthes, Lacan and Foucault (these names pop up a lot in all the various post- theories: post-structuralism, post-modernism, post-colonialism, etc.). Belsey traces the development of literary theory up to the present and discusses various thinkers strengths and weaknesses. She also distinguishes it from Deconstruction (founded by Jacques Derrida), which is related but not the same. She includes a selection of works that she recommends people read for further understanding of the object. Like all of the other Very Short Introductions that I have read, this one is well written, detailed and - as the title indicates - short. Whether you are the busy person who doesn't have the time to dip into more detailed introductions or the person with just some idle curiosity and a few bucks to spend, this is a great introduction.
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