American Literature and the Culture Wars

Synopsis

In this book the author states that he will be: "...questioning both the scope and the purpose of American literary studies. What ends do we pursue in the study and teaching of an "American" literature? Has the idea of a canon of great books reached the end of its usefulness? Where does American literature end and Mexican or Caribbean or Canadian or postcolonial literature begin? Is multiculturalism the end of civilization as we know it or the start of an overdue regeneration of our politics and pedagogy? How has the political economy of making ends meet in an era of downsizing and privatization affected academic freedom and the course of academic study? What happens in the classroom when we try to put an end to the conventional ways in which we have conceived and taught our subject? Playing off the pun in the title of this introduction, then, I want to explore this set of questions about the "ends" of American literary studies. This exploration includes rethinking our ends both in the nominal sense of "pragmatic intention" (goal, aim, objective, design, scheme) and in the verbal sense of "reaching a conclusion" (limit, terminate, cease, halt, expire). By focusing attention on these many ends and the controversial issues they involve, I hope in part to explain how this once arcane academic discipline ended up at the center of the culture wars."

Copyright:

1997

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

235 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780801433931

Publisher:

N/A

Date of Addition:

06/04/07

Copyrighted By:

Cornell University

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Literature and Fiction, Social Studies, Language Arts, Sociology

Submitted By:

Dr. Kenneth Cross

Proofread By:

RochC

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.