Modern European Criticism and Theory offers the reader a comprehensive critical overview of the widespread and profound contest of ideas within European 'theory'. The book focuses primarily on the thought of major voices in poetics, philosophy, linguistics, and psychoanalysis, as well as in literary and cultural studies from the Enlightenment to the present day. Examining how conceptions of subjectivity, identity and gender have been questioned, the more than 50 essays written by acknowledged experts in their fields critically assess the ways in which we think, see, and act in the world, as well as the ways in which we represent such thought psychologically, politically, and culturally. A further reading list accompanies each chapter. Key Features * Breadth of coverage from Descartes and Spinoza to Derrida, Lyotard and Zizek; from Phenomenology to French Feminisms and Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism. * Focus on the history of modern criticism. * Accessibly written. * Theoretical debates are set in full historical, cultural and philosophical contexts.