This volume assesses the current state of Literacy Theory and examines the issues to be addressed by future research. The essays cover established theoretical perspectives and debates and also examine the changing face of literacy studies in the modern world. They include: Essays on deconstruction; New historicism: Reception theory; Sociology and literature; Modernism and post modernism; Marxism and literature; Feminist literary theory; Psychoanalytic literary theory, and the relevance of race and imperialism to the study of literature. The contributors are distinguished, internationally renowned critics, and are widely recognized as leaders in their fields. They include Homi Bhabha, Peter Burger, Stephen Greenblatt, Hans Robert Jauss, Ann Jefferson, Barbara Johnson, Sarah Kofman, Julia Kristeva, Michael Riffaterre, Elaine Showalter, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Robert Weimann and Albrecht Wellmer. This outstanding volume will be of great interest to students and academics in literature and modern languages, linguistics, philosophy, cultural studies and women's studies.