Approaching theory through textual analysis, this handbook is a comprehensive guide to the prominent schools of thought in literary and cultural theory. It reverses the conventional instructional model of concept-to-example and starts with a literary or cultural text, analysing its way to the theoretical core. The works analysed range from the canonical to the contemporary and popular, covering both print and digital media. Each chapter is thus fashioned to familiarize the students with key ideas and terms of various schools of criticism such as: STRUCTURALISM DECONSTRUCTION MARXISM NEW HISTORICISM FEMINISM AND GENDER STUDIES PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM POSTCOLONIALISM ECOCRITICISM Following detailed discussions of the established ideas in theory, the concluding chapter surveys and expands upon contemporary developments in cultural theory for perspectives on new and upcoming ideas in the field such as: POSTHUMANISM FAT STUDIES ANIMAL STUDIES