The Critical Pulse : : Thirty-Six Credos by Contemporary Critics / / ed. by Jeffrey Williams, Heather Steffen.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Columbia University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Bauerlein, Mark,; Berlant, Lauren,; Bousquet, Marc,; Burt, Stephen,; Bérubé, Michael,; Cohen, Victor,; Conley, John,; Dickstein, Morris,; Downing, David B.,; Felski, Rita,; Fitzpatrick, Kathleen,; Foley, Barbara,; Fuss, Diana,; Germano, William,; Graff, Gerald,; Greif, Mark,; Halberstam, Judith Jack,; Hogan, Katie,; Kumar, Amitava,; Lauter, Paul,; Leitch, Vincent B.,; Looser, Devoney,; Lowe, Lisa,; Massé, Michelle A.,; McGurl, Mark,; Moi, Toril,; Negrón-Muntaner, Frances,; Nelson, Cary,; Pellegrini, Ann,; Robbins, Bruce,; Ross, Andrew,; Shumway, David R.,; Steffen, Heather,; Warren, Kenneth,; Williams, Jeffrey J.,; Womack, Craig,
• HerausgeberIn: Steffen, Heather,; Williams, Jeffrey,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Columbia University Press, , [2012]; ©2012
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.)

This unprecedented anthology asks thirty-six leading literary and cultural critics to elaborate on the nature of their profession. With the humanities feeling the pinch of financial and political pressures, and its disciplines resting on increasingly uncertain conceptual ground, there couldn't be a better time for critics to reassert their widespread relevance and purpose. These credos boldly defend the function of criticism in contemporary society and showcase its vitality in the era after theory.Essays address literature and politics, with some focusing on the sorry state of higher education and others concentrating on teaching and the fate of the humanities. All reflect the critics' personal, particular experiences. Deeply personal and engaging, these stories move, amuse, and inspire, ultimately encouraging the reader to develop his or her own critical credo with which to approach the world. Reflecting on the past, looking forward to the future, and committed to the power of productive critical thought, this volume proves the value of criticism for today's skeptical audiences.Contributors: Andrew Ross, Amitava Kumar, Lisa Lowe, Vincent B. Leitch, Craig Womack, Jeffrey J. Williams, Marc Bousquet, Katie Hogan, Michelle A. Massé, John Conley, Heather Steffen, Paul Lauter, Cary Nelson, David B. Downing, Barbara Foley, Michael Bérubé, Victor Cohen, Gerald Graff, William Germano, Ann Pellegrini, Bruce Robbins, Kenneth Warren, Diana Fuss, Lauren Berlant, Toril Moi, Morris Dickstein, Rita Felski, David R. Shumway, Mark Bauerlein, Devoney Looser, Stephen Burt, Mark Greif, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Mark McGurl, Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Judith Jack Halberstam

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Criticism in a Difficult Time -- A Critic'S Progress -- 1. The Case for Scholarly -- 2. Declarations of Independence -- 3. On Critique and Inheritance -- 4. What I Believe and Why -- 5. Hearing Losses and Gains -- 6. Long Island Intellectual -- Academic Labor -- 7. We Work -- 8. What Is Criticism on Academic Labor For? -- 9. "All Things Visible and Invisible": Believing in Higher Education -- 10. Against Heroism -- 11. Pack Consciousness -- Declarations of Politics -- 12. Activism and Curriculum -- 13. Revolutionary Consciousness -- 14. Geopolitical Translators -- 15. Critical Credo -- 16. This I Believed -- 17. "Hope Dies Last": Cultural Studies and Studs Terkel -- Pedagogical Moments -- 18. Credo of a Teacher -- 19. Of Credos and Credibility -- 20. Teaching Friction -- 21. Coerced Confessions -- 22. On Race and Literature -- 23. Teaching Theory -- 24. Affect Is the New Trauma -- The Defense of Literature -- 25. Access to the Universal: Language, Literature, and the Humanities -- 26. Wrestling with the Angel: A Modest Critical Credo -- 27. Everyday Aesthetics -- 28. Criticism Is Vital -- 29. Critical Credo -- 30. Why I'm Still Writing Women's Literary History -- New Turns -- 31. Without Evidence -- 32. All There Is to Use -- 33. Open -- 34. Timing -- 35. The Politics of Small Problems -- 36. The Power of Unknowing -- List of Contributors