"What is it that defines literary theory? Richard J. Lane explores fifty influential figures who have shaped this field over the last century. In one volume theorists from a multitude of disciplines are brought together in order to explore literary theory in all its diversity, covering feminism to postcolonialism, postmodernism to psychoanalysis." "Each entry deals with key concepts and ideas that have informed literary studies in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Included in this comprehensive guide are entries on: Roland Barthes, Judith Butler, Jacques Derrida, Sigmund Freud, Edward W. Said. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET.