Description
Book SynopsisThe contributors to
Critique and Postcritique evaluate literary critique's structural, methodological, and political potentials and limitations while assessing the merits of the post-critical turn and exploring a range of alternate methods of literary criticism that may be better suited to the intellectual and political challenges of the present.
Trade Review"A thorough study that charts the changing landscape of literary studies without throwing out the old maps." -- Matthew Mullins * Symploke *
"This volume will be a crucial reference for scholars in literary studies (especially those in American Studies), cultural studies, and more generally those interested in getting a sense of the state of the humanities." -- Maite Marciano * Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature *
Table of ContentsIntroduction / Elizabeth S. Anker and Rita Felski 1
Part I. Countertraditions of Critique
1. "Nothing Is Hidden": From Confusion to Clarity; or, Wittgenstein in Critique / Toril Moi 31
2. The Temptations: Donna Haraway, Feminist Objectivity, and the Problem of Critique / Heather Love 50
3. The Eighteenth-Century Origins of Critique / Simon During 73
Part II. Styles of Reading
4. Romancing the Real: Bruno Latour, Ian McEwan, and Postcritical Monism / Jennifer L. Fleissner 99
5. Symptomatic Reading Is a Problem of Form / Ellen Rooney 127
6. A Heap of Cliché / C. Namwali Serpell 153
7. Why We Love Coetzee; or,
The Childhood of Jesus and the Funhouse of Critique / Elizabeth S. Anker 183
Part III. Affects, Politics, Institutions
8. Hope for Critique? / Christopher Castiglia 211
9. What Are the Politics of Critique? The Function of Criticism at a Different Time / Russ Castronovo 230
10. Tragedy and Translation: A Future for Critique in a Secular Age / John Michael 252
11. Then and Now / Eric Hayot 279
Bibliography 297
About the Contributors 313
Index 317
