Peter Barry’s Beginning Theory – Review

Beginning Theory is one of the best books to study literary criticism. Peter Barry, the author of this wonderful book, has designed this book in a way that it suits most of the essential syllabuses anywhere in the world. For the beginners studying literary theory and English literature criticism, Beginning Theory is the best book according to many English Literature Education specialists. Simple language, simple style, packed narrative and the content covers the most relevant school of theories that have emerged.

The division of a chapter is the special attraction of this book. Unlike many other scholarly books on the subject, Peter has decided to keep things simple and tell the students what actually one has to understand within the ambit of a particular theory. For example, a student wanting information on Ecocriticism as a literary theory will only get to know what’s necessary for a beginner to know – what does ecocriticism mean? What does an ecocritic do? How can you apply ecocriticism on literary texts? Likewise, it stands for every other theory discussed in the book.

Best literary theory book for students, Peter Barry’s Beginning Theory perfectly justifies the title. It is indeed a suitable work for the beginners even with a null knowledge in literary theories. They will also find work very useful. At the beginning itself, the book introduces the readers to basics and essentials pre-knowledge before getting into the studies of theory. It is just like understanding how to write a research paper before beginning to write one for your MA.

I am pretty sure that Peter Barry’s work will be fruitful for many students as it has always been known to. I have studied the book during my graduation and postgraduation and it has always been very helpful for me. To understand the essence of literary theory – or, in other words, to fully grasp the core idea of any theory in literature, one has to go through this book and it will prove to be more useful with each extra time read it after the initial read. Such is the pleasure of reading this book time and again. Moreover, the advanced students who want to study theory into the depth can read any other advanced books such as Raman Seldon’s or Patricia Waugh’s but only after completely going through Beginning Theory at least twice.

You can find Peter Barry in the bookstores near you or you can get a copy from Amazon by clicking the direct link to buy the book:

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review by Shubham for Desi Readers