One of my biggest frustrations with my undergrad experience is that we only got one class that focused on literary theory, for one semester, right at the end of our degree. It's been 10+ years since I graduated with my BA, so it's about time that I addressed this and began reading like I'm in grad school for absolutely no reason, right? (Well, for no externally motivated reason, at least.)

This is an accessible overview of what literary theory itself is--an expansive, boundless, multi-disciplinary questioning of common sense (affectionate)--with even shorter introductions to specific approaches. My plan is to use this as a jumping off point for A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory by Raman Selden, and then more specific readings.