Ideas in Profile: Small Introductions to Big Topics A key primer for anyone studying literature and film, whether from the armchair, in the classroom or at university Perfect reading for bloggers and want-to-be reviewers on the web looking to improve their critique and review style Enough depth for undergraduates, but with a clear, engaging style that will give non-specialists plenty to think about: clear, concise, accessible and authoritative. Criticism is essential to anyone studying an arts degree, and Catherine Belsey is one of its key theorists The next in the Ideas in Profile series. This is is another solid subject by a respected academic. Focusing particularly on stories, plays and poems, Criticism traces the central concepts and controversies in criticism, from Plato to Derrida, and from Romanticism to the death of the author. In the process, it reflects on criticism itself, the possibilities and options that confront casual readers, as well as reviewers, members of reading groups, students and teachers of English. How far do we make conscious choices about how and what we read (or view)? What do we conventionally look for in fiction? And what might we look for if we went beyond the conventional?.