Literary theory – Critics and scholars

Name Nationality Period Theory

Theodor W. Adorno German 1903-1969 Marxist approaches, Frankfurt school
Louis Althusser French 1918-1990 Ideology, Marxist approaches
Benedict Anderson English 1936- Nation
Aristotle Greek 384-322 BC Catharsis, empathy, genre, mimesis,
rhetoric
Matthew Arnold English 1822-1888 Liberal humanism
Francis Bacon English 1561-1626 Science
Mikhail Bakhtin Russian 1895-1975 Bakhtin circle, intertextuality, Russian
formalism
Charles Bally French 1865-1947 Stylistics
Roland Barthes French 1915-1980 Author, cultural studies, deconstruction,
structuralism
Walter Benjamin German 1892-1940 Marxist approaches, Frankfurt school
Homi K. Bhabha Indian 1949- Postcolonial theory
Maud Bodkin English 1875-1967 Archetypal criticism
Wayne C. Booth American 1921-2005 Implied author, implied reader
James Boswell English 1740-1795 Author
Bertolt Brecht German 1898-1956 Epic theatre, littérature engagée, Marxist
approaches, Russian formalism
Claude Bremond French 1929- Structuralism
Cleanth Brooks American 1906-1994 New Criticism
Noam Chomsky American 1928- Structuralism
Cicero Roman 106-43 BC Rhetoric
Hélène Cixous French 1937- Feminist criticism
S. T. Coleridge English 1772-1834 Empathy
Auguste Comte French 1798-1857 Positivism
Jonathan Culler American 1944- Structuralism
Simone de Beauvoir French 1908-1986 Feminist criticism
Paul de Man Belgian 1919-1983 Deconstruction
Jacques Derrida Algerian 1930-2004 Deconstruction, hermeneutics,
French structuralism
Wilhelm Dilthey German 1833-1911 Hermeneutics, science and literary
studies
Terry Eagleton English 1943- Deconstruction (Poststructuralism)
Umberto Eco Italian 1932- Semiotics
T. S. Eliot Englsih 1888-1965 New Criticism
William Empson English 1906-1984 New Criticism
Friedrich Engels German 1820-1895 Marxist approaches
Robert Escarpit French 1918-2000 Public interlocuteur, public milieu, grand
public
Stanley Fish American 1938- Reader-oriented theories
E. M. Forster English 1879-1970 Liberal humanism
Michel Foucault French 1926-1894 Author, deconstruction
(Poststructuralism), structuralism
James Frazer English 1854-1941 Archetypal criticism
Sigmund Freud Austrian 1856-1939 Archetypal criticism, psychoanalytic
approaches
Northrop Frye Canadian 1912-1991 Archetypal criticism
Hans-Georg Gadamer German 1900-2002 Hermeneutics
Gerard Genette French 1930- Structuralism
Stephen Greenblatt American 1943- New historicism
Germaine Greer Australian 1939- Feminist criticism
A. J. Greimas Lithuanian 1917-1999 Structuralism
Norbert Groeben German Reader-oriented theories
Martin Heidegger German 1889-1976 Hermeneutics
Horace Roman 65-27 BC Rhetoric, utile dulci
Max Horkheimer German 1895-1973 Marxist approaches, Frankfurt School
Luce Irigaray Belgian- 1932- Feminist criticism
French
Wolfgang Iser German 1926-2007 Implied reader, reader-oriented theories
Roman Jakobson Russian 1896-1982 Model of communication, Prague
School, psychoanalytical approaches,
Russian formalism, structuralism,
stylistics
Hans-Robert Jauss German 1921-1997 Reader-oriented theories
Dr Johnson English 1709-1784 Author (biography)
William Jones English 1746-1794 Philology
Carl Gustav Jung Swiss 1875-1961 Archetypal criticism, psychoanalytical
approaches
Julia Kristeva Bulgarian- 1941- Bakhtin circle, feminist criticism,
French intertextuality, structuralism
Thomas Kuhn American 1922-1996 Science
Jacques Lacan French 1901-1981 Deconstruction (Poststructuralism),
psychoanalytical approaches
Claude Lévi Strauss French 1908- Structuralism
David Lodge English 1935- Metatext
Yuri Lotman Russian 1922-1993 Genre, Prague School, semiotics
Georg Lukács Bulgarian 1885-1971 Littérature engagée, Marxist approaches,
mimesis
Herbert Marcuse German 1898-1979 Marxist approaches, Frankfurt School
Karl Marx German 1818-1883 Marxist approaches
Marshall McLuhan Canadian 1911-1980 Production and distribution
J. Hillis Miller American 1928- Deconstruction
Kate Millet American 1934- Feminist criticism
Jan Mukarovský Czech 1891-1975 Norms, Prague School
Charles Sander Peirce American 1839-1914 Semiotics
Julius Petersen Danish 1839-1910 Genre
Bernard Pivot French 1935- Criticism
Plato Greek 428-348 BC Catharsis, mimesis, rhetoric
Plutarch Greek 46-120 Author (biography)
Karl Popper Austrian- 1902-1994 Science
British
Quintilian Roman 35-100 Rhetoric
John Crowe Ransom American 1888-1974 New Criticism
I. A. Richards English 1893-1979 New Criticism
Paul Ricoeur French 1913-2005 Hermeneutics
Edward W. Said Palestinian 1935-2003 Postcolonial theory
Jean-Paul Sartre French 1905-1980 Language of science, littérature engagée
Swiss 1857-1913

Ferdinand de Saussure Bakhtin circle, deconstruction, Prague

school, Russian formalism, semiotics,
structuralism
Friedrich Schleiermacher German 1768-1834 Hermeneutics
Victor Shklovsky Russian 1893-1984 Russian formalism
Socrates Greek 470-399 BC Rhetoric
Gayatri C. Spivak Indian 1942 Feminist criticism, postcolonial theory
Hippolyte Taine French 1828-1893 Positivism
Tzvetan Todorov Franco- 1939- Russian formalism, structuralism
Bulgarian
Nikolai Trubetzkoy Russian 1890-1938 Prague School
Yury Tynyanov Russian 1894-1943 Prague School, Russian formalism
C. J. Van Rees Dutch 1983- Criticism
René Wellek Czech- 1903-1995 New criticism, Prague School, Russian
American formalism
Oscar Wilde English 1854-1900 Ethics, utile dulci
W. K. Wimsatt American 1907-1975 New criticism
Oprah Winfrey American 1954- Criticism
Virginia Woolf English 1882-1941 Feminist criticism