ABSTRACT

In this book, first published in 1989, twenty-give eminent critics and theorists write about different aspects of literary theory. These essays represent leading research in psychoanalytic criticism, new historicism, Continental theory, feminism, Afro-American studies, philosophy, cybernetics, aesthetics, and other theoretical inflections. The result is a collective statement on the course that lies ahead for criticism in the humanities, and will be of interest to students of literary theory.

chapter 3|14 pages

Historical Worlds, Literary History

chapter 5|16 pages

The State of the Art of Criticism

chapter 10|21 pages

Literary Genres and Textual Genericity

chapter 12|21 pages

Towards a Literary Anthropology

chapter 13|21 pages

The Future of Theory: Saving the Reader

chapter 16|11 pages

The Future of an Illusion