American Literature and the Culture Wars

Gregory S. Jay is Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and the author of America the Scrivener: Deconstruction and the Subject of Literary History, also from Cornell.

A major contribution.... Jay's analyses tacitly provide new alternatives for critical theory. This book is a significant exploration into our different processes of appropriation, validation, and transmission of literary and cultural values, into a field in which pedagogy functions as a primary means of canon formation and revision.- Ricardo Miguel Alfonso (The International Fiction Review) In addition to approaching the debates in multiculturalism from a theoretical perspective, Jay also addresses pragmatic issues about how to teach the 'struggle for representation' in the classroom. Because Jay is concerned with putting his theories about multiculturalism into action, Culture Wars is ambitious in its diversified approach. Jay's investigation into the 'culture wars' is provocative and persuasive—down to his pragmatic and sometimes radical suggestion for changing our syllabi.... In American Literature and the Culture Wars, Jay convincingly demonstrates how the scholarly and cultural debates about multiculturalism should be addressed in the classroom, where any real change in the curriculum necessarily begins. By problematizing the positions taken on either side, Jay offers an even-handed examination of historical and current debates, offering pragmatic solutions to teaching multiculturalism, not at the expense of complexity for either teacher or student. Because of this, American Literature and the Culture Wars is a valuable tool for understanding and teaching the myriad voices in American literature and American culture.- Elaine Arvan Andrews (American Studies International) Jay's thorough review of previous studies establishes a context for his advocacy of an intellectual diversity in the university and use of literature (particularly works representing oppressed minorities) to teach social values.... An essential and useful challenge to rethink course approaches.(Choice)