Critics at Work

Jeffrey J. Williams is Professor of English at the University of Missouri, Columbia. His books include Theory and the Novel: Narrative Reflexivity in the British Tradition and, as editor, PC Wars: Politics and Theory in the Academy and The Institution of Literature. He is also the editor of the literary and critical journal The Minnesota Review.

• Acknowledgments Preface Introduction: The Talk of Criticism 1 Stanley Agonistes: An Interview with Stanley Fish 2 Writing in Concert: An Interview with Cathy Davidson, Alice Kaplan, Jane Tompkins, and Marianna Torgovnick 3 Only Connect: An Interview with Gerald Graff 4 English in America Revisited: An Interview with Richard Ohmann 5 Between Generations: An Interview with Morris Dickstein 6 New New York Intellectual: An Interview with Louis Menand 7 Canon and Curriculum: An Interview with Paul Lauter 8 Instituting Cultural Studies: An Interview with E. Ann Kaplan 9 Theory into Practice: An Interview with Barbara Foley 10 From the Left: An Interview with Alan Wald 11 Politics and Philosophy: An Interview with Nancy Fraser 12 The Worldly Philosopher: An Interview with K. Anthony Appiah 13 Sedgwick Unplugged: An Interview with Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick vii14 Citizen Berlant: An Interview with Lauren Berlant 15 Undisciplined: An Interview with Andrew Ross 16 History and Hope: An Interview with Robin D. G. Kelley About the Editor

"These engaged conversations are extremely well-informed, interesting, readable, and revealing. Critics at Work is a beautifully composed work and both fun and rewarding to read." - Vincent B. Leitch,editor of The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism