Against Theory: Literary Studies and the New PragmatismW. J. Thomas Mitchell, William John Thomas Mitchell "Against Theory," the title essay in this volume, challenges the notion that literary theory has any real work to do, or any results to show. This challenge--issued by Steven Knapp and Walter Benn Michaels in Critical Inquiry (8:4)--strikes some critics as scandalous, others as provocative and productive. The argument is directed against both sides of the current debates in literary theory, criticizing theoretical "objectivists" like E. D. Hirsch, Jr., on the one hand, and proponents of indeterminacy like Paul de Man on the other. The attack is not just on a particular way of doing theory but on the entire project of literary theory. The challenge is not only to a way of thinking and writing but to a way of making a living. The resulting controversy has drawn so much attention among literary critics that it has been collected in a single volume so that the debate can be followed from start to finish. This collection includes the essay "Against Theory," seven responses to it, and a rejoinder by Knapp and Michaels (originally published in Critical Inquiry 9:4); in addition, there are two new statements plus a final reply by Knapp and Michaels. The debate chronicled in this volume raises the most fundamental issues in the theory of meaning and the practice of interpretation. Are Knapp and Michaels confronting literary theory with a new "pragmatic" form of theory? Or are they (as some of their respondents suggest) arguing for a new form of nihilism? "If it is a nihilism," writes editor W. J. T. Mitchell, "it is one that demands an answer, not easy polemical dismissal, one that calls for theory to clarify its claims, not to mystify them and the easy assurance of intellectual fashion and institutional authority." It is the intention of Against Theory to aid in that clarification. |
Contents
Pragmatic Theory | 1 |
The Prospects | 31 |
Hirsch Jr 48 Against Theory? | 48 |
Copyright | |
1 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Against Theory: Literary Studies and the New Pragmatism W. J. Thomas Mitchell No preview available - 1982 |
Common terms and phrases
account of interpretation already antifoundationalism antifoundationalist antitheoretical argue argument against theory assumptions attempt author intended calls Chomsky claim consequences Crewe Critical Inquiry critical practice discourse distinction Dowling E. D. Hirsch Emerson and Frye epistemological essay example fact Fish's formal formalist ground H. P. Grice hermeneutics identity imagine intentionless meanings inter Interpretive Communities issue of Critical John Searle Juhl Juhl's Knapp and Michaels Knapp and Walter knowledge language and speech linguistic literary criticism literary studies literary theory literature Mailloux meaning and intention meant method mistake negative theorist notion object ontological particular philosophy poem political position possible pragmatic pragmatist pretation principle question reader reading revisionary rhetorical Richard Rorty Rosmarin rules seems sense sentence separate simply speaker speech acts Stanley Fish Steven Knapp text means textual theory's thing tion tradition true belief truth Validity in Interpretation W. K. Wimsatt Walter Benn Michaels wave-poem words