ABSTRACT
The boundaries between criticism and theory are often blurred, but the theorist can perhaps be distinguished from the critic by a determination to critique the assumptions governing his or her interpretations of a text. Admittedly, this can be carried to absurd lengths; I recently attended a conference on the application of theory in literary studies, and recall that the most contentious moment of the two days was when someone asked if the word ‘theory’ should appear in the programme of the conference with a capital ‘T’ or not. This seems to me to demonstrate the pitfalls of an obsession with theory: the danger of not seeing the wood for the trees, or in this instance the T's.
