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Theory's Empire: An Anthology of Dissent
by (Editor: Daphne Patai) (Editor: Wilfrido Corral)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Columbia University Press (2005-05-05)
ISBN: 0231134177
EAN: 9780231134170
Dewey Decimal #: 801.95
Binding/Media: Paperback - 736 pages
Release Date: 2005-05-14
SKU: 10-JPKE-FLXT
Condition: As New
Comments: Brand new book with two stickers on cover. Expedited shipping is available.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Not too long ago, literary theorists were writing about the death of the novel and the death of the author; today many are talking about the death of Theory. Theory, as the many theoretical ism's (among them postcolonialism, postmodernism, and New Historicism) are now known, once seemed so exciting but has become ossified and insular. This iconoclastic collection is an excellent companion to current anthologies of literary theory, which have embraced an uncritical stance toward Theory and its practitioners. Written by nearly fifty prominent scholars, the essays in Theory's Empire question the ideas, catchphrases, and excesses that have let Theory congeal into a predictable orthodoxy. More than just a critique, however, this collection provides readers with effective tools to redeem the study of literature, restore reason to our intellectual life, and redefine the role and place of Theory in the academy.
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Customer Reviews
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Exactly what I needed as a literature student
Rating  (5)
Date: 2010-05-25
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
My opinion is encapsulated in the title of this review. I questioned everything I was being taught - an English student at York University, it all appeared so monotonous and repetitive to me. The jargon I found reading selected essays from the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism was so pervasive, it seemed to me that its only purpose was to confound; most, if not all the canonised authors, Derrida, Lacan, Althusser, Butler, etc., appeared pretentious and deliberately insoluble in their assertions.
Thank God for this book. It's given me hope for an essay I was dreading coming to terms with; the latest module of my degree, whilst interesting and eye opening, seemed to encourage me to leap on the hamster wheel and base it on the work of contemporary acclaimed theorists, following them to critical literary theory's next predictable destination.
Hopefully this is a step towards dismantling the wheel....
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This anthology restored my delight in literary studies.
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-03-02
23 out of 29 customers found this reveiw helpful
A few years ago, I decided to quit my job in computers and to instead become a professor of literature. I thought that this would be a meaningful and important profession. But after finishing my Masters and being exposed to current fashionable literary theory, I was distressed by the essentially meaninglessnes of how I was being taught to read literature! More distressing, I realized that to succeed in this environment I would have to view the world (not just literature) through this distorted lens of Theory. It would then be my job to teach students to see through that same lens. And not only that, I would be pressured to produce papers that only a few would ever attempt to read, and those few would either agree or disagree based upon their particular distorted Theory eyeglasses. I was and am disenchanted, sickened, and have since returned to a profession that at least pays well even if it is rather tedious. At least now I can enjoy literature.
But thanks to this anthology, I can see that my idealist hopes of a meaningful profession in English Literature were not necessarily foolish. I can see that it is the current Theory and its adherents that are the fools. I felt this to be the case at the time, and now I have some evidence to support that feeling. And best of all, I now have references of critics and theorists that actually make sense and have a balanced view of life, reality, and literature.
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Peter Berkovitz's outstanding review of this book in 'Policy Review'
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-02-08
12 out of 13 customers found this reveiw helpful
As one long away from the Academy I have listened through the years with a mixture of dread and amusement at the tales of 'politically correct' professors promoting their agendas at the expense of individual freedom of thought and response. In an outstanding review of this present work Peter Berkowitz maintains that the 'Theory' business in the realm of Literature has worked to undermine two basic Western principles, the first that of the faith in Reason. The second is the individual liberty of the reader to explore and find meaning within the text.
The Theorists with the Derrida, Foucalt, Lacan agendas have worked to 'organize ' the reading of Literature into Programmatic messages which we all are to subscribe to.
This present volume is a collection of writings which dissent from this kind of formulaic program. It contains works by many of the best literary critics which we have known from M.H.Abrams to Wayne Booth whose final essay is a call for a more honest and individual way of doing Literary Criticism.
Peter Berkowitz concludes his outstanding review with the following inspirational words.
"Whether university literature departments can become sources for the inspiration and cultivation of the love of literature is of concern on more than narrow educational grounds. To be sure, most students will have at most only a few courses over four short college years to study the literary treasures of the West and beyond. Their literature professors should not be permitted to rob them of this golden opportunity to read and revel in novels, plays, and poetry by force-feeding them instead indigestible abstractions, formulaic denunciations, and pretentious proclamations. But also, paradoxical as it may sound, literature taught for its own sake serves a vital public interest in a liberal democracy. In our busy and distracted age, this may be even more true. Literature transports students to other times and places. It acquaints them with people and immerses them in circumstances remote from their own lives. It brings to life the variety of ways of being human. And it exhibits the common humanity in the glorious variety. In short, the study of literature for its own sake helps prepare citizens for the challenges of freedom."
It seems to me that this anthology is one which most critics of literature would definitely want to have in their library.
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A strong response to theory
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-09-21
1 out of 21 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have taken a course with one of the contributors, Valentine Cunningham. His initial overview of "theory", and its flaws, is very helpful.
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Wonderful!
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-09-06
12 out of 23 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book should not have been necessary. To take this much effort from scholars who could have been doing more productive things seems a waste -- but, if they didn't take the time out to point out the holes in the many reality-denying Theories of the last generation, who would? The demolition job is complete. It's also a lot of fun, if your idea of fun is watching charlatains get skewered. Enjoy it.
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