Literary criticism, an autopsy

Resource Information

The work Literary criticism, an autopsy represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Literary criticism, an autopsy

Statement of responsibility

Mark Bauerlein

Title variation

Literary criticism

Creator

• Bauerlein, Mark

Subject

• Criticism

Language

eng

Summary

• As the study of literature has extended to cultural contexts, critics have developed a language all their own. Yet, argues Mark Bauerlein, scholars of literature today are so unskilled in pertinent sociohistorical methods that they compensate by adopting cliches and catchphrases that serve as substitutes for information and logic. Thus by labeling a set of ideas an "ideology" they avoid specifying those ideas, or by saying that someone "essentializes" a concept they convey the air of decisive refutation. As long as a paper is generously sprinkled with the right words, clarification is deemed superfluous
• Bauerlein contends that such usages only serve to signal political commitments, prove membership in subgroups, or appeal to editors and tenure committees, and that current textual practices are inadequate to the study of culture and politics they presume to undertake. His book discusses 23 commonly encountered terms - from "deconstruction" and "gender" to "problematize" and "rethink"--And offers a diagnosis of contemporary criticism through their analysis
• A self-styled "handbook of counterdisciplinary usage," Literary Criticism: An Autopsy shows how the use of illogical, unsound, or inconsistent terms has brought about a breakdown in disciplinary focus. It is an insightful and entertaining work that challenges scholars to reconsider their choice of words - and to eliminate many from critical inquiry altogether

Member of

• Critical authors & issues

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

801/.95

Government publication

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

Index

index present

LC call number

PN81

LC item number

.B387 1997

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

Critical authors & issues