This new edition covers the key theoretical approches in modern literary theory, and includes essays and texts that are essential reading for any student of critical theory. It includes sections on Formalism and Structuralism, Feminism, Marxism, Postmodernism, and Postcolonialism, and for the first time, includes works by authors such as de Beauvoir and Freud, who although not focusing specifically on literature, make a significant contribution to the landscape of literary theory.