Doing Literary Theory

I have begun a new blog focused on my new study of Literary Theory.  It is a complicated subject that I am having to gain a grip on, as part of my graduate studies, as it will be a large part of my research and teaching life once I become a professor.  Like most grad students in English today, I struggle with the importance of theory, and it's place in academic study, it's usefulness and what it's future place should be.

Literary theory brings up questions about what is "literature", what is the author's job, the reader's job, the critic's job.  What makes "literature"?  Is it excellent writing?  Is it reader involvement?  Is it "literary language"?  Where does meaning happen?  What is the purpose of literature, the value of writing and reading and specific works?

I hope you all will join me as I look at those questions, along with the answers posited by the various theorists.  I hope to translate the academic jargon into an easily understandable and absorbable form, so that everyone can be a part of the conversation.  It will also help me to solidify my own understanding of the theories and learn to pass them on in a useful way, as well as in my own attempt to formulate a workable, useful, more inclusive literary theory for going forward.  I will be adding a link in the sidebar here as well.

http://understandingtheory.blogspot.com/