For people who are interested in literary theory, there are many introductions and many anthologies. What I am looking for is slightly different: an anthology of literary theory that illustrates each theory by applying it to one or more works of literature, with the additional "constraint" that it is the same works that are selected to illustrate each theory. I once held such a book in my hands. I think one of the works that was used as an illustrated was Kate Chopin's The Awakening. One of the other works may have been a Shakespeare play (probably Hamlet). Since the book was an anthology, the essays had not been written specifically for this book.
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism doesn't match my criteria because the essays were not chosen based on the works they discuss. Literary Theory: An Anthology, edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan is also a good anthology but does not match my criteria either.
The book I am looking for selects two or three works of literature (let's call them A, B and C) and a number of theories. The book was then be built up as follows:
- Theory 1, e.g. formalism: an essay applying formalist criticism to work A, another essay from the formalist school applying it to work B, etc.
- Theory 2, e.g. structuralism: a structuralist interpretation of work A, another structuralist interpretation of work B, etc.
As I mentioned before, I once held such a book in my hands, but searching the web has not helped me find it.
