Description
Book SynopsisAnecdote and 'theory' have diametrically opposed connotations: humorous versus serious, specific versus general, trivial versus overarching, and short versus grand. This work addresses major questions of feminist theory. It explains that for the practice of anecdotal theory derives from the lineages of psychoanalysis, deconstruction, and feminism.
Trade Review“Gallop is our foremost comic theorist. Anecdotal theory, as she observes, is theory with a better sense of humor. Gallop shows us how to be smart and rigorous precisely by
refusing to ‘get serious,’ explaining how that imperative in fact makes literary critics relinquish what we do best. Lightening up without in any way producing theory ’lite’: this is one formulation of Gallop’s goal and considerable accomplishment, both here and throughout her career.”—Joseph Litvak, author of
Strange Gourmets: Sophistication, Theory, and the Novel“Jane Gallop’s essays are lucid, bold, and timely: she gives us our time through a series of brilliant lenses. I’m always grateful for the intelligence, the edge, and the generosity of her vision. We would all be more lost without her.”—Judith Butler, author of
Gender Trouble"[Gallop's] explorations resonate for us all. . . . [
Anectodal Theory] interrogates its own narrative with . . . formidable wit and intellectual rigor . . . . Moving and provocative . . . ." -- Cora Kaplan * Women's Review of Books *
Table of ContentsAnecdotal Theory; I The Incident; The Teacher's Breasts; The lecherous Professor: A Reading; The Personal and the Professional: Walking the Line; Resisting Reasonableness; II The Stories; A Tales of Two Jacques; Knot a Love Story; Dating Derrida in the Nineties; Castration Anxiety and the Unemployed PhD; Econstructing Sisterhood; Afterwords
