The Yale critics : deconstruction in America / Jonathan Arac, Wlad Godzich, Wallace Martin, editors.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Arac, Jonathan, 1945-

Godzich, Wlad.

Martin, Wallace.

Series:

Theory and history of literature ; v. 6.

Theory and history of literature ; v. 6

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Deconstruction.

Criticism--United States.

Criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxxvii, 222 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c1983.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A heated debate has been raging in North America in recent years over the form and function of literature. At the center of the fray is a group of critics teaching at Yale University - Harold Bloom, Geoffrey Hartman, Paul de Man, and J. Hillis Miller - whose work can be described in relation to the deconstructive philosophy practiced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida. For over a decade the Yale Critics have aroused controversy; most often they are considered as a group, to be applauded or attacked, rather than as individuals whose ideas merit critical scrutiny. Here a new generation of scholars attempts for the first time a serious, broad assessment of the Yale group. These essays appraise the Yale Critics by exploring their roots, their individual careers, and the issues they introduce. Wallace Martin's introduction offers a brilliant, compact account of the Yale Critics and of their relation to deconstruction and the deconstruction to two characteristically Anglo-American enterprises; Paul Bove explores the new criticism and Wlad Godzich the reception of Derrida in America. Next come essays giving individual attention to each of the critics: Michael Sprinker on Hartman, Donald Pease on Miller, Stanley Corngold on de Man, and Daniel O'Hara on Bloom. Two essays then illuminate "deconstruction in America" through a return to modern continental philosophy: Donald Marshall on Maurice Blanchot, and Rodolphe Gasche on Martin Heidegger. Finally, Jonathan Arac's afterword brings the volume together and projects a future beyond the Yale Critics. Throughout, the contributors aim to provide a balanced view of a subject that has most often been treated polemically. While useful as an introduction, The Yale Critics also engages in a serious critical reflection on the uses of the humanities in American today.

Contents:

Contents; Key to Brief Titles; Preface; Introduction; PART I; Variations on Authority: Some Deconstructive Transformations of the New Criticism; The Domestication of Derrida; PART II; Aesthetic Criticism: Geoffrey Hartman; J. Hillis Miller: The Other Victorian at Yale; Error in Paul de Man; The Genius of Irony: Nietzsche in Bloom; PART III; History, Theory, and Influence: Yale Critics as Readers of Maurice Blanchot; Joining the Text: From Heidegger to Derrida; Afterword; Bibliography; Contributors; Index

Notes:

Includes bibliography and index.

ISBN:

0-8166-5304-6

OCLC:

181068609