Philippine E-Journals

Dis-Coursing the S/subjects of Theory Towards a Critical Literacy of Our Own

David Jonathan Bayot

Discipline: Literature

 

Abstract:

The terms in confusion take on various levels. On the level of terminology and its denotation, the confusion is evident in the many titles of the course of Theory. Is it literary or critical theory? Or is it cultural or textual theory? Or should it be literary criticism or simply, Theory, instead? Which is which? Textbook writers and anthology editors themselves cannot arrive at a consensus. One just has to sweep through the titles of the standard texts (especially those used in Philippine universities) to witness the conclusion of terms in the basic denotative level: Kritisismo (Reyes); Modern Literary Theory (Rice and Waugh); A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader (Easthope and McGowan); Modern Criticism and Theory (Lodge); Contemporary Literary Criticism (Davis and Schleifer); Falling into Theory (Richter).