Nothing quite matches this in scope and depth. Taken as a whole, the guide provides a synoptic overview of literary theory from a twentieth-century Western point of view. The articles are succinct and pointed.
Jeffrey R. Luttrell American Reference Books Annual, 1995 A massive, double-columned Yellow Pages of lit crit. If it falls between Abrams and Zola, historically between ... Read morePlato and postmodernism, intellectually between Aristotle and feminism, or geographically between Japanese Theory and Criticism and Caribbean, you can probably find it here.
Ray Carney Partisan Review A superlative work of reference that can be read for information, and not just another overview. It provides a comprehensive historical survey of ideas and scholars from Plato to modern times, examining developments in other disciplines which have shaped literary theory and criticism.
Shelley Walla Literary Review Two centuries ago this jumbo-size book would have come into the world not modestly as a 'guide' but as a fully fledged encyclopedia. It divides a whole field of knowledge into its constituent parts and presents them in alphabetical order with great lucidity... This is a text whose coverage and the general excellence of its entries really will suit the everyday business of study and research.
Simon During The Australian This comprehensive and easily understood reference book will serve as an indispensable guide for helping students or scholars assess and discuss an overwhelming body of material, especially such 'buzz' topics as multiculturalism.
Cristian Salazar Bloomsbury Review Books such as Holman's Handbook to Literature define these concepts briefly but are no substitute for the Guide's analytical essays and their explanations of the development and significance of key critical theories and their methods. Since the Guide is more comprehensive and analytical than Wendell Harris's Dictionary of Concepts in Literary Criticism and Theory, no academic library reference collection can do without it. Wilson Library Bulletin An uncommonly absorbing reference book that attempts to map changes wrought by an anxious new worldliness and self-consciousness among scholars, which the term 'theory' connotes... For writers and critics, [this] is a must, but every committed reader will want to own it. San Francisco Chronicle First published in 1994, this title has established itself as one of the main references in the field, through well-written, in-depth articles on critics, schools, periods, and critical innovations of specific countries and ethnic traditions. Choice 2005 A satisfying offering in the discipline of literary theory; The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism endeabors to cover not only individual critics and philosophers from antiquity to the present day, but also the full range of the many diverse schools of critical thought. Kirkus Reviews This edition of the Guide is a terrific resource... I know I'll be consulting it frequently until the third edition arrives.
James Phelan University of Toronto Quarterly 2006 In all, the Guide's substantial essays provide an appropriately updated sense of the most important issues and figures in contemporary theoretical discussions of literature and interpretation.
Mark M. Freed Journal of Midwest Modern Language Assoc. 2006 The new version of Guide will provide a new generation of scholars and students with an exhaustive reference, but it will also serve as a valuable and critical measurement of the discipline. Rocky Mountain Review 2005 Certainly it should (and I hope - will) be adopted by research librarians affiliated with any credible institution of higher learning.
Matthew Biberman English Studies in Canada 2007 Show Less