Hey, Hypothetical Reader! Wanna talk about Literary Theory?
No! Why would I want to talk about Literary Theory? Because you appreciate discussions about books and their place in society. Well, I do appreciate those things, yes. But Theory is more than a little pretentious, don't you think? Yeah, but that doesn't mean we can't talk about it. Fine. Where should we start? Well, maybe with a rough definition. That's easy, Literary Theory is when you take a discussion about Literature and turn it into a discussion of something else. Hmmm. C'mon, tell me I'm wrong. Well, I'd say it's more when you take a discussion of something else and turn it into a discussion about Literature. Hmmm. Are we being too joke-y? Maybe a little. Well, let's be more straightforward and define Theory as a series of analytical frameworks that you can apply to the discussion of literary texts. That's pretty sweeping. Well, you know. So, it's really just about new ways of looking at Literature. Exa...