This collection of essays aims to provide a balanced conspectus on the field of literary theory by applying nine theories to the analysis of three texts: Jospeh Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Henry James' In the Cage and D.H.Lawrence's St Mawr. This structure enables an interchange to take place between approaches drawn from all the main areas of recent critical theory: structuralism, post-structuralism, marxism, feminism and psychoanalysis. The book is addressed to all teachers and students who are interested in modern critical theory but want also to see how it can engage with a literary text. It is intended to bridge the gap which seems to have opened up between theory and practice, by explaining each theory and then showing its operation in a detailed reading of a text. The contributors are all members of the Critical Theory Group at the University of Nottingham.