Modern North American Criticism and Theory presents the reader with a comprehensive and critical introduction to the development and institutionalization of literary and cultural studies throughout the twentieth century and at the beginning of the twenty-first. Focusing on the growth and expansion of critical trends and methodologies, with particular essays addressing key figures in their historical and cultural contexts, the book offers a narrative of change, transformation, and the continuous quest for and affirmation of multiple cultural voices and identities. From semiotics and the New Criticism to the identity politics of whiteness studies and the cultural study of masculinity, this book provides an overview of literary and cultural study in North America as a history of questioning, debate, and exploration. A further reading list accompanies each chapter. Key Features * Breadth of coverage from Northrop Frye to Fredric Jameson and from The New Criticism and the Chicago School to New Historicism, African-American Studies and Canadian Literary Studies. * Focus on the history of modern criticism. * Accessibly written.* Theoretical debates are set in full historical, cultural and philosophical contexts.