Literary Theory & Criticism introduces the readers to the major theoretical approaches to the study of literature. This is because the study of literature is no longer - if it ever was - simply the study and evaluation of poems, short stories, novels and dramas. It is also the study of the ideas, issues, and difficulties which arise in any literary text and in its interpretation. New critical theories emerge as literary scholars develop new methodologies of reading, especially in the arts and humanities. By studying these theories, you would have been provided with a 'tool kit' for your own informed critical reading and thought about works of literature.