Michael Payne introduces the principal writings of Roland Barthes, Michael Foucault and Louis Althusser by means of a detailed focus on their common interest in the forms and conditions of knowledge.

About the Author
Michael Payne is John P. Corzer Professor of English at Bucknell University. He is editor of Blackwell's Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory (1996) and general editor of the Bucknell Lectures in Literary Theory, also published by Blackwell. His Reading French Feminism is forthcoming, as is his Renaissance Literature: An Anthology, in the Blackwell Anthologies series.

Reviews
"The attention given to what I think is essential in my research-the semiotic and symbolic, rejection, negativity, practice, in particular their close connection with Husserl, Hagel, and Freud- is unique among works which have previously dealt with my books." Julia Kristeva

"For this reader's money. Payne's discussion is the best non-polemical introduction to Lacan he has come across." Jesse W. Nash, History of European Ideas

"I have never read a more lucid explanation of Derrida's ideas." James R. Bennett, Style

"Reading Theory is an enormously study and, given its complexity, remarkably accessible." John Schad, Review of English Studies

Book Information
ISBN 9780631195672
Author Michael Payne
Format Paperback
Page Count 136
Imprint Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 198g
Dimensions(mm) 225mm * 156mm * 8mm