like lifefullofwords said, there are good intro books (I'm still a big fan of the comic book "introducing" and "for beginners" series 3 years into MA), theory dictionaries, etc. The Norton Anthology of Lit-Crit and Theory is a nice authoratative brick; there are thousands like it. I tend to use google, wikipedia and other online sources (esp. journal archives like JSTOR that have PDF articles) which tends to be faster for getting familiar with literary theory stuff than paper flipping.
I got into theory through theory classes in english, and religious studies, also lots of independent research into anthropology for a class I taught on theorizing magic. currently I'm more involved in analytic/aristotelian thought (although my specialty is neoplatonism so I do weird/spooky theory too) represented by guys like Pierce, Austin, Wittgenstein, John Searle. My reading in the subject for the last couple years has restricted to the stuff represented by the anthology "Theory's Empire," anything by Noretta Koertge or Daphne Patai (as a science person you might be interested in the whole "science wars" tradition of response to the sloppy and initiatory patterns of continental style theory in america -- see especially the teaching company lectures on the topic -- critiques like Nussbaum vs Butler, Searle and Chomsky vs. Derrida, etc.). I'm trying to get smarter about Foucauldian approaches to history, which are hip and fruitful lately in early modern witchcraft and magic theory studies (which is also the new frontier in the humanities field history of science--although I noticed few of the presenters at the alchemy conference in philadephia last year were much concerned with literary theory, mostly just hard science and history except for the rare art-history treatment for the images. I'm working on lit. analysis of a few weird spiritual alchemy texts of the 17th century, which i've noticed is lacking generally).
also, I love Walter Benjamin. You probably will too.
I've had a quick browse over the links and they look precisely the thing I'm after. Although I'd still like to invest in a paper book for in bed, on the bus..
here are a few from my literary bookmarks
http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/hopkins_guide_to_literary_theory/g-index.html
http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/links.htm
I got into theory through theory classes in english, and religious studies, also lots of independent research into anthropology for a class I taught on theorizing magic. currently I'm more involved in analytic/aristotelian thought (although my specialty is neoplatonism so I do weird/spooky theory too) represented by guys like Pierce, Austin, Wittgenstein, John Searle. My reading in the subject for the last couple years has restricted to the stuff represented by the anthology "Theory's Empire," anything by Noretta Koertge or Daphne Patai (as a science person you might be interested in the whole "science wars" tradition of response to the sloppy and initiatory patterns of continental style theory in america -- see especially the teaching company lectures on the topic -- critiques like Nussbaum vs Butler, Searle and Chomsky vs. Derrida, etc.). I'm trying to get smarter about Foucauldian approaches to history, which are hip and fruitful lately in early modern witchcraft and magic theory studies (which is also the new frontier in the humanities field history of science--although I noticed few of the presenters at the alchemy conference in philadephia last year were much concerned with literary theory, mostly just hard science and history except for the rare art-history treatment for the images. I'm working on lit. analysis of a few weird spiritual alchemy texts of the 17th century, which i've noticed is lacking generally).
also, I love Walter Benjamin. You probably will too.
hope this helps. always happy to "talk shop"
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I've had a quick browse over the links and they look precisely the thing I'm after. Although I'd still like to invest in a paper book for in bed, on the bus..
I'll check out Walter Benjamin too.
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