The Critical Pulse

The Critical Pulse

Thirty-Six Credos by Contemporary Critics

Edited by: Jeffrey Williams and Heather Steffen

Columbia University Press | 2012

https://doi.org/10.7312/will16114

Overview
Contents

About this book

This unprecedented anthology asks thirty-six leading literary and cultural critics to elaborate on their profession, reasserting its widespread relevance and purpose. These credos boldly defend the function of criticism in contemporary society and showcase its vitality in the era after theory. Essays address literature and politics, with some focusing on the sorry state of higher education and others concentrating on teaching and the fate of the humanities. All reflect the critics' personal, particular, and deeply engaging experiences. Their stories move, amuse, and inspire the reader to develop his or her own critical credo for approaching the world. Reflecting on the past, looking forward to the future, and committed to the power of productive critical thought, this volume proves the value of criticism for today's skeptical audiences.

This unprecedented anthology asks thirty-six leading literary and cultural critics to elaborate on the nature of their profession. With the humanities feeling the pinch of financial and political pressures, and its disciplines resting on increasingly uncertain conceptual ground, there couldn't be a better time for critics to reassert their widespread relevance and purpose. These credos boldly defend the function of criticism in contemporary society and showcase its vitality in the era after theory.

Essays address literature and politics, with some focusing on the sorry state of higher education and others concentrating on teaching and the fate of the humanities. All reflect the critics' personal, particular experiences. Deeply personal and engaging, these stories move, amuse, and inspire, ultimately encouraging the reader to develop his or her own critical credo with which to approach the world. Reflecting on the past, looking forward to the future, and committed to the power of productive critical thought, this volume proves the value of criticism for today's skeptical audiences.

Contributors: Andrew Ross, Amitava Kumar, Lisa Lowe, Vincent B. Leitch, Craig Womack, Jeffrey J. Williams, Marc Bousquet, Katie Hogan, Michelle A. Massé, John Conley, Heather Steffen, Paul Lauter, Cary Nelson, David B. Downing, Barbara Foley, Michael Bérubé, Victor Cohen, Gerald Graff, William Germano, Ann Pellegrini, Bruce Robbins, Kenneth Warren, Diana Fuss, Lauren Berlant, Toril Moi, Morris Dickstein, Rita Felski, David R. Shumway, Mark Bauerlein, Devoney Looser, Stephen Burt, Mark Greif, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Mark McGurl, Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Judith Jack Halberstam

Author information

Jeffrey J. Williams is professor of English and literary and cultural studies at Carnegie Mellon University. His books include Theory and the Novel: Narrative Reflexivity in the English Tradition; PC Wars: Politics and Theory in the Academy; The Institution of Literature; and Critics at Work: Interviews. He is also a former editor of the minnesota review and coedits the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.

Heather Steffen is a Ph.D. candidate in literary and cultural studies at Carnegie Mellon University. She is working on a dissertation about academic labor and criticism of the university in the Progressive Era.

Reviews

This piquant and welcome volume presents the 'credos' of 36 scholars—reflections on why criticism matters, why and how they do the work they do, and what they hope to accomplish.

Brian Lennon, Pennsylvania State University, author of In Babel's Shadow: Multilingual Literatures, Monolingual States:
Williams and Steffen's engaging, diverting, and thought-provoking analysis spells out the predicament facing literary criticism today. These essays represent thinking, argument, knowledge, and life experience that should be preserved and kept available for its own sake.

Martin Puchner, Harvard University, author of The Drama of Ideas: Platonic Provocations in Theater and Philosophy:
Both autobiography and declaration of principle, these credos are dispatches from the trenches of literary criticism. They will inspire future scholars even as they register the uncertainties of an increasingly precarious profession.

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	v
Acknowledgments Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	ix
Introduction: Criticism in a Difficult Time Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
A Critic’S Progress
1. The Case for Scholarly Andrew Ross Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	13
2. Declarations of Independence Amitava Kumar Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	20
3. On Critique and Inheritance Lisa Lowe Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	27
4. What I Believe and Why Vincent B. Leitch Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	33
5. Hearing Losses and Gains Craig Womack Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	42
6. Long Island Intellectual Jeffrey J. Williams Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	50
Academic Labor
7. We Work Marc Bousquet Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	59
8. What Is Criticism on Academic Labor For? Katie Hogan Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	67
9. “All Things Visible and Invisible”: Believing in Higher Education Michelle A. Massé Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	74
10. Against Heroism John Conley Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	82
11. Pack Consciousness Heather Steffen Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	87
Declarations of Politics
12. Activism and Curriculum Paul Lauter Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	95
13. Revolutionary Consciousness Cary Nelson Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	101
14. Geopolitical Translators David B. Downing Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	107
15. Critical Credo Barbara Foley Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	115
16. This I Believed Michael Bérubé Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	121
17. “Hope Dies Last”: Cultural Studies and Studs Terkel Victor Cohen Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	129
Pedagogical Moments
18. Credo of a Teacher Gerald Graff Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	137
19. Of Credos and Credibility William Germano Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	140
20. Teaching Friction Ann Pellegrini Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	146
21. Coerced Confessions Bruce Robbins Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	151
22. On Race and Literature Kenneth Warren Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	157
23. Teaching Theory Diana Fuss Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	164
24. Affect Is the New Trauma Lauren Berlant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	173
The Defense of Literature
25. Access to the Universal: Language, Literature, and the Humanities Toril Moi Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	183
26. Wrestling with the Angel: A Modest Critical Credo Morris Dickstein Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	188
27. Everyday Aesthetics Rita Felski Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	193
28. Criticism Is Vital David R. Shumway Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	202
29. Critical Credo Mark Bauerlein Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	208
30. Why I’m Still Writing Women’s Literary History Devoney Looser Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	217
New Turns
31. Without Evidence Stephen Burt Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	229
32. All There Is to Use Mark Greif Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	237
33. Open Kathleen Fitzpatrick Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	245
34. Timing Mark McGurl Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	252
35. The Politics of Small Problems Frances Negrón-Muntaner Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	257
36. The Power of Unknowing Judith Jack Halberstam Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	264
List of Contributors Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	271

The Critical Pulse

Thirty-Six Credos by Contemporary Critics

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