Twentieth Century Literary Criticism (Hardbound - 2019)

Considering the great popularity of the first seven editions of the book, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism, and keeping in mind the valuable suggestions received from several quarters, the present eighth edition has been revised and enlarged by adding four new chapters. It now contains 64 chapters in all, organized into three parts.

Part I of the book lays emphasis on various schools of criticism that are prevalent in India and the West. Each chapter contains an analysis of the theory in question and shows the trend and development as well as the methodology of literary criticism in the twentieth century.

Part II contains discussions on a large number of critical essays and covers critics such as Eliot, Richards, Leavis, Barthes, Derrida, Foucault and the Postcolonial critics. The seminal critical essays included in this section have influenced the critical trends in the twentieth century and changed the general perception of criticism. These chapters, apart from giving a comprehensive idea of the critical concepts, also provide an analytical study of the critical works.

Part III contains fourteen chapters that explain the meanings of terms like textuality, intertextuality, hypertextuality; study the application of cultural studies to literary texts; capture the important changes that have taken place in cultural studies in the present age of globalization and give a brief historical perspective of literary theory, Culture Studies, Eco-Criticism, Interdisciplinarity, Political Correctness and Critical Fallacy.

The four new chapters are on “Globalectics: A Semblance of Criticism”; “Shakespeare Criticism in the Twentieth Century and Beyond”; “Post-coloniality to Globalectics: The Ways of Postcolonial Studies”; and “Demarcating the Frontiers of Literary Criticism and Contemporary Thought”.

The theories and the texts have been explained with clarity and precision in a simple language and lucid style. This is an invaluable reference book for anyone interested in the field of literary criticism in the twentieth century and beyond.

Bijay Kumar Das, Ph.D., D.Litt., is a contributor to The Encyclopaedia of World Literature in the 20th Century (New York). He has published a number of reference books which include Interpreting Poetry and Evaluating Criticism (2015); Perspectives on the Poetry of A.K. Ramanujan (2013); Twentieth Century Literary Criticism (2014); Critical Essays on Post-Colonial Literature (2007, 2010); The Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra (2009); A Handbook of Translation Studies (2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013); Form and Meaning in Mahesh Duttani’s Plays (2008); Post-Modern Indian English Literature (2006, 2013); Critical Essays on Poetry (2003); A Handbook of Communication Skills and Functional English (2002, 2017); Shiv K. Kumar as a Post-Colonial Poet (2001); A Reader’s Guide to Ten Twentieth Century Indian Poets (1999); Aspects of Commonwealth Literature (1995); The Horizon of Nissim Ezekiel’s Poetry (1995); Perspective on Indian English Poetry Criticism (1998); and Modern Indian English Poetry (1992).

Dr. Das has edited five reference books: Revisiting W.B. Yeats’s World and Art (2016); New Readings in Indian English Literature (2011); Comparative Literature (2000, 2013); Perspectives on the Poetry of R. Parthasarathy (1998); and Contemporary Indo-English Poetry (1992). He has also co-edited one reference book entitled Studies in Postcolonial Literature (2007); and several textbooks, including Nineteen Century English Poetry (OUP, 1992, 1998). He has successfully guided 27 Ph.D. scholars and was the Chief Editor of The Indian Journal of English Studies for three years (2007-09). He is the Editor of The Critical Endeavour since 1995. Formerly a Reader in English at Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, Dr. Das is now a Professor of English at Burdwan University, Burdwan (West Bengal).