Critical Theory Reading List

[losingeffingmarbles]

To echo the Lefebvre love, Production of Space is one of those texts that will irrevocably change your way of thinking and writing about space.

[starbelliedsneetch]

Discipline & Punish is one of the most accessible Foucualt texts, I reccomend it for f. beginners.

Schechner and Roach are both foundational to performance studies as a discipline, but they by no means represent the enitrety of the field as it stands today. For newer (and queer) ps stuff, I'd reccomend Karen Tongson's recent Relocations; Beth Freeman's Time Binds.

and......... BERLANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's incredible if you're looking for super high octane affect theory.

[user_name]

Zizek - The Sublime Object of Ideology for Marxism and culture. I also found Foucault's Madness and Civilization accessible.

[veniente]

A contribution:

Vilém Flusser - The Shape of Things: A Philosophy of Design

Edit:

While it's definitely not presented 'as' Critical Theory, I think Pierre Bayard's How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read, which I 'read' a while back, will be a text I take solace in at grad school.

Edited March 29, 2012 by arrivant

[JeremiahParadise]

Has anyone read Judith Halberstam's new book, The Queer Art of Failure? I hear it's wonderful, but I haven't yet had a chance to read it.

[Two Espressos]

Has anyone read Judith Halberstam's new book, The Queer Art of Failure? I hear it's wonderful, but I haven't yet had a chance to read it.

I've heard good things about it as well and have also yet to read it. If I have time, I plan to read it this summer.

Edited March 29, 2012 by Two Espressos

[TripWillis]

Raymond Williams' Marxism and Literature is highly undervalued these days, even though it is very readable and hugely important to modern literary study. Just sayin.

Edited March 29, 2012 by TripWillis

[starbelliedsneetch]

Raymond Williams' Marxism and Literature is highly undervalued these days, even though it is very readable and hugely important to modern literary study. Just sayin.

great suggestion. wonderful text... and important for people outside of literary study too (like us perf studies scholars!)

[butalas]

Raymond Williams' Marxism and Literature is highly undervalued these days, even though it is very readable and hugely important to modern literary study. Just sayin.

Williams in general...I just read Politics of Modernism and will be reading another by him (as soon as I find a used copy that's not $35!!).

Right now I'm reading some Jung--it's a sort of anthology of his important writing on dreams. Really good, very accessible. Will be reading more by him in the near future.

It's really important to know some Marx. While not everyone is willing to tackle the thousands of pages of Capital, it is certainly worthwhile to pick up a copy of The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844--it's not too lengthy and sort of works as a good summary of his main ideas in Capital. Of course it differs, but I believe it can serve as a good introduction to Marx's philosophy.

[butalas]

P.S. -- I just ordered Terry Eagleton's Criticism and Ideology: A Study in Marxist Literary Theory ​and I'm very excited about it. I've only read bits of it before for an undergraduate class. Has anyone ever read this one before?

***thriftbooks.com is great if you don't know about it. It only cost me $4!

Edited April 20, 2012 by butalas

[JeremiahParadise]

***thriftbooks.com is great if you don't know about it. It only cost me $4!

Wow -- and free shipping in the US? Daaaaaaamn. I like that. Thanks for sharing.

[butalas]

Wow -- and free shipping in the US? Daaaaaaamn. I like that. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah it's great! Also, just be aware, it can be VERY addicting.

[lyonessrampant]

P.S. -- I just ordered Terry Eagleton's Criticism and Ideology: A Study in Marxist Literary Theory ​and I'm very excited about it. I've only read bits of it before for an undergraduate class. Has anyone ever read this one before?

***thriftbooks.com is great if you don't know about it. It only cost me $4!

I think it is an excellent intro-intro text. . .if you've had much theory at all, when you read it you'll find yourself arguing with Eagleton, but either way, I think it is a good text to have read if you put critical theory as an interest on your CV.

[Sparrowing]

Recently I've been re-reading all of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's wonderful monographs. If you enjoyed Berlant's Cruel Optimism and Freeman's Time Binds, I might also suggest An Archive of Feelings by Ann Cvetovich and Queer Phenomenology by Sara Ahmed. All of the above are also FUN reads. And Sedgwick's prose is gorgeous, if at times indirect.

As a follow up to Lefebvre's Production of Space I'd recommend Neil Smith's Uneven Development, and after Williams' Marxism and Literature I'd read Jacques Rancière's Politics of Aesthetics.

Anyone read Butler's Precarious Life? Is it worth the price of admission?

[JeremiahParadise]

Just ordered Eagleton's "After Theory" on Thriftbooks -- I'll report back in a couple weeks when I get to it

[veniente]

Anyone read Butler's Precarious Life? Is it worth the price of admission?

Yes. It's pretty decent, but if you've read Agamben's Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life you will find it doesn't offer a whole lot more to conversations on indefinite/(illegal) detention.