New theories, models and methods in literary and cultural studies

New Theories, Models and Methods in Literary and Cultural Studies offers readers compact information about advances inliterary and cultural theory. Each essay presents an application of arecent theoretical innovation in order to demonstrate how it may be put into practice. The volume thus gives students a reliable and informative overview of innovative approaches to Literary and Cultural Studies that will facilitate their research. Separated into four sections, the first part of the volume comprises a discussion of theory itself. The first essay contests the practicality and usefulness of theory from the perspective of a literary author (Ulrich Horstmann) and one that seeks to describe literary theory as a movable feast from which the practitioner may pick and choose as from a smorgasbord (Herbert Grabes). The second part opens with a description of the lasting critical achievements of New Historicism and Cultural Materialism (Ute Berns) and continues by describing the pertinence of these methods to Media Ecology (Ingo Berensmeyer) and Performance Studies (Anneka Esch-van Kan). The third part offers descriptions of methodologies that have developed out of political concerns, including Queer Theory (Nadyne Stritzke), Ecocriticism (Sonja Frenzel), and Critical Media Studies (Greta Olson). Finally, the last section is devoted to theoretical developments that position themselves as critical and social practices. It includes chapters on literary studies as a life science (Ansgar Nünning and Michael Basseler) and translation as a critical practice (Doris Bachmann-Medick).