Literary theory

Literary theory is the theory (or the philosophy) of the interpretation of literature and literary criticism. Its history begins with classical Greek poetics and rhetoric and includes, since the 18th century, aesthetics and hermeneutics. In the 20th century, "theory" has become an umbrella term for a variety of scholarly approaches to reading texts, most of which are informed by various strands of Continental philosophy. (In much academic discussion, the terms "literary theory" and "Continental philosophy" are nearly synonymous, though some scholars would argue that a clear distinction can be drawn between the two.)

External links

• Aristotle's Poetics (350 BCE)
• Longinus' On the Sublime (1st century CE)
• Sir Philip Sidney's Defence of Poesie (1595)
• "A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism and Philology", by José Ángel García Landa