Rebirth of American Literary Theory and Criticism

Aram Veeser edited 4 books on literary theory and theorists and wrote his own book, Edward Said: The Charisma of Criticism (2010). In addition, he has worked as a journalist and addressed, in print, a nonacademic readership.

• Acknowledgments; Introduction; The First Wave; 1. Stanley Eugene Fish; 2. Richard Allen Macksey; 3. Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein-Graff; 4. Vincent Barry Leitch; The Second Wave; 5. Walter Benn Michaels; 6. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak; 7. Jane Gallop; 8. Homi K. Bhabha; 9. William John Thomas Mitchell; 10. William Germano; 11. Steven Mailloux; The Third Wave; 12. Wai Chee Dimock; 13. Rita Felski; 14. Kenneth W. Warren; 15. Cary Wolfe; 16. Martin Puchner; 17. Michael Bérubé; 18. Jeffrey Nealon; Afterword by Heather Love; Index.

Harold Aram Veeser’s The Rebirth of American Literary Theory and Criticism provides crucial insight into the work that theory has done and continues to do in literary and cultural studies. The astute interviews with leading theorists demonstrate how theory transformed intellectual life for the better and how it continues to be perhaps the most vital force at work in contemporary humanist discourse. In our moment in which both theory and humanistic study are under attack from neoliberalism, renewed calls for the abandonment of theory, and new forms of anti-professional populism, Veeser’s volume demonstrates how important theory remains to the work we do as intellectuals and cultural critics. A necessary—not to mention pleasurable—read. — Christopher Breu, Professor, Department of English, Illinois State University