Critical theory, for the non-specialist outside academia, can represent the antithesis of accessibility. It is interdisciplinary, necessarily given to abstraction and populated by a gauntlet of intellectuals like Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek, whose communication styles, references, density of allusions and arguments often present cognitive challenges, even for motivated students. This new volume in the Routledge Key Guides series is an ambitious attempt to produce an introductory primer for a complex and evolving field. Felluga, an English professor at Purdue University in USA, is responsible for an online resource, Introductory Guide to Critical Theory (Felluga, 2012), in relation to which this book is intended to be both expansion and successor. Fortunately, the result is almost wholly successful.
The organization of Critical Theory as a reference aid for researchers is impressive: clearly organised and both economical and comprehensive to the point of being exhaustive. Felluga takes care to prepare the reader, with both a prefatory note on use of the book and an introductory essay on the history of Western thought, including the emergence of critical theory in the late eighteenth century and the term's first use by Max Hornheimer in 1937. There have been, Felluga notes, no new theoretical schools over the last two decades, but instead an “implementation” of precepts and methods and a marked growth in Cultural Studies, a subject embracing sciences and what were previously considered “low” cultural forms like television and film (p.vii). An ensuing list, with page references, of the 338 concepts covered alphabetically, from Abject (abjection) to Jean-François Lyotard’s concept of Wrong, usefully summarises the book's contents for quick browsing. The list also indicates its breadth and currency, with Cyborg and Digital Humanities appearing alongside established theoretical approaches such as psychoanalysis.
Interdisciplinarity dictates that many concepts are inter-related. Perhaps Critical Theory’s greatest strength for researchers is its recognition of these connections and the provision of numerous navigational aids. In the A to Z entries themselves, inter-relationships are denoted by extensive cross-referencing in bold type. This can make for a slightly distracting effect – one paragraph in the piece on Poststructuralism contains over 20 terms in bold – but its usefulness as a research tool is undeniable. In addition, most of the explanations conclude with see also directions to other entries and a list of suggested Further Reading. This last explanation employs the Chicago citation style with author’s surname and date being given and directs the researcher to a magisterial 25-page bibliography which follows the main body of the book. Although citing only printed sources, this is wide-ranging – from Aristotle's Topics (c.345BCE) to a 2016 issue of the journal Modern Language Quarterly, focussing on “Historical Poetics”. The volume is concluded by a single but reasonably comprehensive index of concepts and individuals, from Abject to the theorist Lisa Zunshine, in which boldface again signifies dedication of an entry.
As for the actual explanatory essays, Felluga displays conscientious thoroughness with respect to both choice and content. The range is fascinating and current – even this postgraduate in English found unfamiliar terms like Blackboxing for exploration. Entries are occasionally a single paragraph, but average at about a thousand words. However, in recognition of the contested nature of certain sites, there are much longer pieces on topics like Class and Postmodernism. For the latter, the writer usefully lists features which differentiate postmodernist from modernist works. Another highlight is the economical summarisation under Psychosexual Development of the various stages – “0 to 2 years” etc. – and gender differences theorised by Freud, Lacan and Kristeva. Ferruga’s expression is mostly concise throughout and the needs of browsers are well-anticipated. Minor caveats are that the entry on “Things and Thing Theory” is surprisingly brief, given the recent attention to the “Thing” given by theorists like the prolific Žižek and that the important Russian formalist terms fabula and syuzhet are omitted from the index or as cross-reference points for the piece on Story and Discourse.
Altogether, Critical Theory is a well-researched volume which does a fine job of marshalling and introducing a corpus of often formidably challenging discourses. Modestly priced, it will be an indispensable handbook for undergraduate and postgraduate students in English and cognate subjects and a valuable addition to university libraries serving the humanities and social sciences generally.
