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.
1 Theory, what theory? by Valentine Cunningham 24
2 Destroying literary studies by Rene Wellek 41
3 Traveling through American criticism by Tzvetan Todorov 52
4 The rise and fall of "practical" criticism : from I. A. Richards to Barthes and Derrida by Morris Dickstein 60
5 The power and limits of literary theory by Richard Freadman and Seumas Miller 78
6 Is theory to blame? by John M. Ellis 92
7 Theory, theories, and principles by Denis Donoghue 109
8 The linguistic unconscious : Saussure and the post-Saussureans by Raymond Tallis 125
9 Literary theory and its discontents by John R. Searle 147
10 The quandaries of the referent by Vincent Descombes 176
11 The great dichotomy by Wendell V. Harris 190
12 The deconstructive angel by M. H. Abrams 199
13 The grand academy of theory by Frederick Crews 218
14 Theorrhea and kulturkritik by J. G. Merquior 234
15 Masters and demons by Brian Vickers 247
16 The debate over the wartime writings of Paul de Man : the language of setting the record straight by Alan B. Spitzer 271
17 Presentism : postmodernism, poststructuralism, postcolonialism by Graham Good 287
18 Preface for a post-postcolonial criticism by Erin O'Connor 297
19 Author! author! : reconstructing Roland Barthes by Clara Claiborne Park 318
20 The French intellectual habitus and literary culture by Niilo Kauppi 330
21 Social constructionism : philosophy for the academic workplace by Mark Bauerlein 341
