Robert T. Tally is Professor of English at Texas State University. His recent books include For a Ruthless Critique of All that Exists: Literature in an Age of Capitalist Realism (2022), J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit: Realizing History through Fantasy (2022) and Topophrenia: Place, Narrative, and the Spatial Imagination (2019).

• Introduction: The Situation of Criticism; Part I Critical Positioning Systems, 1. Swerve, Trope, Peripety: Turning Points in Cultural Criticism and Theory; 2. The Aesthetics of Distance: Space, Weltliteratur, and Critique; 3. World Literature and Its Discontents; 4. Worlding Space: Spatial Literary Studies and the Planetary Turn; 5. In the File Drawer Labeled “Science Fiction”: Genre after the Age of the Novel; Part II Post-Americanist Interpolations, 6. “Believing in America”: The Ideology of American Studies; 7. “Some men ride on such space”: Charles Olson’s Call Me Ishmael, the Melville Revival, and the American Baroque; 8. The Southern Phoenix Triumphant: The Consequences of Richard Weaver’s Ideas; 9. Bleeping Mark Twain?: Censorship, Huckleberry Finn, and the Functions of Literature; 10. I Am the Mainstream Media (and So Can You!): The Hyperreality of “Fake News”; Part III Errant Trajectories in Postmodern Critical Practice, 11. Nomadography: Gilles Deleuze and the History of Philosophy; 12. Power to the Educated Imagination!: Northrop Frye and the Utopian Impulse; 13. Edward Said and Marxism: Wars of Position in Oppositional Criticism; 14. An American Bakhtin: Jonathan Arac, or, the Vocation of the Critic; 15. Bathsheba’s Stomach: Poiesis and Criticism in Paul A. Bové’s Love’s Shadow; Conclusion: An Anagogical Education; Acknowledgments; Index

“Robert T. Tally Jr’s new book contains important critical essays engaging with the major developments in ‘postmodern literary studies,’ with a visionary conclusion ‘An Anagogic Education.’ Tally proposes here how a Frye and Jameson can work together. Among recent books, there is no rival to Tally’s, in terms of wide coverage, in-depth analysis, and imaginative lucidity. To those new in the field and jaded veterans alike, I highly recommend The Critical Situation”— Daniel T. O’Hara, Professor of English and Inaugural Mellon, Professor of Humanities, Temple University.

Robert T. Tally is Professor of English at Texas State University. His recent books include For a Ruthless Critique of All that Exists: Literature in an Age of Capitalist Realism (2022), J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit: Realizing History through Fantasy (2022) and Topophrenia: Place, Narrative, and the Spatial Imagination (2019).

• Introduction: The Situation of Criticism; Part I Critical Positioning Systems, 1. Swerve, Trope, Peripety: Turning Points in Cultural Criticism and Theory; 2. The Aesthetics of Distance: Space, Weltliteratur, and Critique; 3. World Literature and Its Discontents; 4. Worlding Space: Spatial Literary Studies and the Planetary Turn; 5. In the File Drawer Labeled “Science Fiction”: Genre after the Age of the Novel; Part II Post-Americanist Interpolations, 6. “Believing in America”: The Ideology of American Studies; 7. “Some men ride on such space”: Charles Olson’s Call Me Ishmael, the Melville Revival, and the American Baroque; 8. The Southern Phoenix Triumphant: The Consequences of Richard Weaver’s Ideas; 9. Bleeping Mark Twain?: Censorship, Huckleberry Finn, and the Functions of Literature; 10. I Am the Mainstream Media (and So Can You!): The Hyperreality of “Fake News”; Part III Errant Trajectories in Postmodern Critical Practice, 11. Nomadography: Gilles Deleuze and the History of Philosophy; 12. Power to the Educated Imagination!: Northrop Frye and the Utopian Impulse; 13. Edward Said and Marxism: Wars of Position in Oppositional Criticism; 14. An American Bakhtin: Jonathan Arac, or, the Vocation of the Critic; 15. Bathsheba’s Stomach: Poiesis and Criticism in Paul A. Bové’s Love’s Shadow; Conclusion: An Anagogical Education; Acknowledgments; Index

“Robert T. Tally Jr’s new book contains important critical essays engaging with the major developments in ‘postmodern literary studies,’ with a visionary conclusion ‘An Anagogic Education.’ Tally proposes here how a Frye and Jameson can work together. Among recent books, there is no rival to Tally’s, in terms of wide coverage, in-depth analysis, and imaginative lucidity. To those new in the field and jaded veterans alike, I highly recommend The Critical Situation”— Daniel T. O’Hara, Professor of English and Inaugural Mellon, Professor of Humanities, Temple University.

Robert T. Tally is Professor of English at Texas State University. His recent books include For a Ruthless Critique of All that Exists: Literature in an Age of Capitalist Realism (2022), J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit: Realizing History through Fantasy (2022) and Topophrenia: Place, Narrative, and the Spatial Imagination (2019).

• Introduction: The Situation of Criticism; Part I Critical Positioning Systems, 1. Swerve, Trope, Peripety: Turning Points in Cultural Criticism and Theory; 2. The Aesthetics of Distance: Space, Weltliteratur, and Critique; 3. World Literature and Its Discontents; 4. Worlding Space: Spatial Literary Studies and the Planetary Turn; 5. In the File Drawer Labeled “Science Fiction”: Genre after the Age of the Novel; Part II Post-Americanist Interpolations, 6. “Believing in America”: The Ideology of American Studies; 7. “Some men ride on such space”: Charles Olson’s Call Me Ishmael, the Melville Revival, and the American Baroque; 8. The Southern Phoenix Triumphant: The Consequences of Richard Weaver’s Ideas; 9. Bleeping Mark Twain?: Censorship, Huckleberry Finn, and the Functions of Literature; 10. I Am the Mainstream Media (and So Can You!): The Hyperreality of “Fake News”; Part III Errant Trajectories in Postmodern Critical Practice, 11. Nomadography: Gilles Deleuze and the History of Philosophy; 12. Power to the Educated Imagination!: Northrop Frye and the Utopian Impulse; 13. Edward Said and Marxism: Wars of Position in Oppositional Criticism; 14. An American Bakhtin: Jonathan Arac, or, the Vocation of the Critic; 15. Bathsheba’s Stomach: Poiesis and Criticism in Paul A. Bové’s Love’s Shadow; Conclusion: An Anagogical Education; Acknowledgments; Index

“Robert T. Tally Jr’s new book contains important critical essays engaging with the major developments in ‘postmodern literary studies,’ with a visionary conclusion ‘An Anagogic Education.’ Tally proposes here how a Frye and Jameson can work together. Among recent books, there is no rival to Tally’s, in terms of wide coverage, in-depth analysis, and imaginative lucidity. To those new in the field and jaded veterans alike, I highly recommend The Critical Situation”— Daniel T. O’Hara, Professor of English and Inaugural Mellon, Professor of Humanities, Temple University.