Literary Theory - Some Websites to Explore (AO3)

AO3 asks you to explore 'interpretations of other readers'. It might be worth taking on board recognised critical approaches.

Wikipedia is as good a place to start as any. Click here. Look at the History and Differences among schools. This makes the point that there has been a long debate (still ongoing) as to whether Lit Theory should be taught or whether it needs to be applied to a text. Really theory is all about debate, critical thinking and approaching texts in different ways. So it's not suprising that there is a debate about the nature or necessity of theory. One site says that Literary Theory creates questions, not answers and this might be worth keeping in mind when studying it.

Another nice intro is here. There is an exhaustive list of theoretical approaches. Don't bother with them all. Look mainly at New Criticism, Marxism, Feminism, Structuralism and New Historicism.

This page is another nice intro with a very good bibliography.

Here is a set of 25 lectures of literary theory from Yale Uni. It might be tough going! Again, be selective. you might want to have a look at New Criticism, Feminism, Gender...