Literary Theory and Theories

The first time that I studied literary theory was in graduate school -- this was after finishing my major in English and teaching high school English for six years. So I was deep into literature but had only heard of "theory" -- it sounded rather far away.

So when I started reading literary theory it was a kind of revelation. It was as if I finally started to understand what I had been doing all that, as if things finally started to make sense. I had been trained in "New Criticism" -- I was interested in many other approaches, especially ones that addressed the CONTENT of literature, not just its FORM.

Many of you found literary theory "interesting." I loved what Rachel says on her blog about feminism... :) Yes, we need to look at these "lenses" and see how they can help us start seeing literature, and the world, with new insight.