Vincent B. Leitch is a George Lynn Cross Research Professor at the University of Oklahoma where he holds the Paul and Carol Daube Sutton Chair in English. A foremost historian of contemporary literary criticism and theory, he is the author of the standard history, American Literary Criticism from the 1930s to the 1980s as well as Deconstructive Criticism and Cultural Criticism, Literary Theory, Poststructuralism (all three books published by Columbia UP), Postmodernism: Local Effects, Global Flows (SUNY Press), Theory Matters (Routledge), Living with Theory (Blackwell), and American Literary Criticism since the 1930s, 2nd edition (Routledge). William E. Cain is the Mary Jewett Gaiser Professor of English at Wellesley College. A scholar of American literature and American literary criticism, Professor Cain is the author of The Crisis in Criticism: Theory, Literature, and Reform in English Studies (Johns Hopkins UP), F. O. Matthiessen and the Politics of Criticism (U of Wisconsin Press), and Literary Criticism, 1900-1950: The Cambridge History of American Literature (Cambridge UP) as well as the editor or co-editor of several college textbooks, including An Introduction to Literature (Longman), American Literature (Penguin), The Little, Brown Reader (Longman), and Literature for Composition (Longman). Laurie A. Finke is Director of the Women's and Gender Studies program at Kenyon College. A prominent medievalist and feminist critic, Professor Finke is the author of Cinematic Illuminations: The Middle Ages on Film (Johns Hopkins UP), King Arthur and the Myth of History (University Press of Florida), Feminist Theory, Women's Writing (Cornell UP) and Women's Writing in English: The Middle Ages (Longman) and the editor of Medieval Texts and Contemporary Readers (Cornell UP). Barbara E. Johnson was the Frederic Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society at Harvard University. She was a leading figure in contemporary literary theory and the author of The Critical Difference: Essays in Contemporary Rhetoric of Reading (Johns Hopkins UP), A World of Difference (Johns Hopkins UP), The Wake of Deconstruction (Blackwell), The Feminist Difference: Literature, Psychology, Race and Gender (Harvard UP), Mother Tongues: Sexuality, Trials, Motherhood, Translation (Harvard UP), and Persons and Things (Harvard UP). She was also the translator of Jacques Derrida's Dissemination (U of Chicago P) and St phane Mallarm 's Divagations (Harvard UP/Belknap Press). John McGowan is the Ruel W. Tyson, Jr. Distinguished Professor of the Humanities and Director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. A leading critic of postmodernism and social theories relating to literature, he is the author of Postmodernism and its Critics (Cornell UP), Hannah Arendt: A Critical Introduction (U of Minnesota P), Democracy's Children: Intellectuals and the Rise of Cultural Politics (Cornell UP), and American Liberalism: An Interpretation for Our Time (UNC Press), and editor (with Craig Calhoun) of Hannah Arendt and the Meaning of Politics (U of Minnesota P). Jeffrey J. Williams is Professor of English and of Literary and Cultural Studies at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of Theory and the Novel: Narrative Reflexivity in the English Tradition (Cambridge UP) and the editor of PC Wars: Politics and Theory in the Academy (Routledge), The Institution of Literature (SUNY Press), and Critics at Work: Interviews (NYU Press). He has also published journalism in venues such as The Village Voice, Dissent, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Since 1992, he has been the editor of the literary and critical journal, the minnesota review.

The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism presents a staggeringly varied collection of the most influential critical statements from the classical era to the present day. Edited by scholars and teachers whose interests range from the history of poetics to postmodernism, from classical rhetoric to ériture féminine, and from the social construction of gender to the machinery of academic superstardom, The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism promises to become the standard anthology in its field. An Unrivaled Collection: The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism offers nearly twice the number of selections in other leading anthologies and more twentieth-century selections than any other text (including anthologies devoted solely to the twentieth century). This historical breadth of coverage and depth of selection—especially within the twentieth century—make The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism the perfect choice for nearly any theory and criticism course. Continuity and Connections: The works in The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism have been chosen not only because they are individually important but also because they speak to each other, providing students with a rich portrait of the ongoing "critical conversation." Where appropriate, the editors link classical, medieval, and early modern critics to contemporary theorists and movements as well as to other classical, medieval, and early modern critics. Throughout the twentieth-century selections, the editors trace the complex web of interrelated ideas and explicit influences. Helpful Apparatus: • General Introduction: A 30-page introduction surveys the history of criticism and theory and provides an overview of the many schools and movements that make up the contemporary theoretical landscape. • Headnotes: Each of the 169 figures represented in The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism is treated in an informative headnote that not only introduces the writer's life and thought but also connects the writer to other critics, theorists, and movements. • Bibliographies: Each author headnote is followed by a selected bibliography. A detailed, annotated general bibliography at the end of the volume is divided into historical periods and major schools and movements. This material makes The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism a valuable reference for scholars as well as a useful teaching anthology. • Annotations: In the Norton tradition, The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism 's annotations are extensive, helpful, and as unobtrusive to students' own interpretive work as possible.