Julian Wolfreys

Literature, in Theory

Tropes, Subjectivities, Responses & Responsibilities

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Jacques Derrida has argued about the difference between literature and theory that despite its institutional status, part of its 'institution' is the right of literature to say anything. Literature cannot be defined as such, and as soon as one seeks to produce a reading of the literary, complications arise.  Yet despite its institutional significance, 'theory' remains something many wish would go away; and which, for others, is still not read, is misread, and remains to be read. Like literature, it remains as an enigmatic identity, resistant to definition, but subject to misperceptions and open to general statements that are more or less inaccurate. By examining how 'theory' and 'literature' are concepts and names which touch on one other in complex ways, Julian Wolfreys seeks to understand their intersections and differences. Examining a wide range of authors, from Dickens to Joyce, and engaging directly with a number of major theorists, Wolfreys takes the reader on a journey through the issues and ideas involved in reading literature, in theory. 

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Continnuum-3PL
• Seitenzahl: 322
• Erscheinungstermin: 23. Februar 2010
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 240mm x 161mm x 22mm
• Gewicht: 649g
• ISBN-13: 9781441161529
• ISBN-10: 144116152X
• Artikelnr.: 29954437

Autorenporträt

Julian Wolfreys

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgements  Foreword
in lieu of an introduction 1. Toward a Phenomenology of Urban Gothic: Dickens's Examples 2. Houses
Homes
Rooms and Tombs: The Unhomely Spaces and Monstrous Economies of Dombey and Son 3. In Visibility or
the Appearance of 'True Histories': Truth
Confession and Revelation in Anne Brontë 4. Contested Grounds: Historical
Epistemological and Political Identities in Victorian Literature 5. (Sub) Urbi et Orbi: The Little Worlds of London or
Fear
Whimsy
and Singularity 6. Professions: of English Diaspora? 7. No
Not
None
Nothing
Nobody: Place
Pattern
Death and Narratives of Negation in Dubliners 8. 'A self-referential density': Glyph
Fictions of Transgression and the 'Theory' Thing 9. 'Theory' and the novel (and the novel?) 10. Ghosts: of Ourselves or
Drifting with Hardy and Heidegger 11. The reiterable circularity of Being: Poetics
Selfhood
and the Singular Witness that is 'I' 12. Teaching Derrida: 'but just a minute
before we begin
a preface of sorts (after the event)
a defence
apologia
apologue...'
and other responses in the face of (yet another) programmed avoidance of reading 13. 'The strong dead return': Harold Bloom's Daemonic Shades 14. Face to Face with Giorgio Agamben or
the other in love 15. Responsibilities of J or
Aphorism's Other: Criticism's Transformation Bibliography Index

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Acknowledgements
Foreword, in lieu of an introduction
1. Toward a Phenomenology of Urban Gothic: Dickens's Examples
2. Houses, Homes, Rooms and Tombs: The Unhomely Spaces and Monstrous Economies of Dombey and Son
3. In Visibility or, the Appearance of 'True Histories': Truth, Confession and Revelation in Anne Brontë
4. Contested Grounds: Historical, Epistemological and Political Identities in Victorian Literature
5. (Sub) Urbi et Orbi: The Little Worlds of London or, Fear, Whimsy, and Singularity
6. Professions: of English Diaspora?
7. No, Not, None, Nothing, Nobody: Place, Pattern, Death and Narratives of Negation in Dubliners
8. 'A self-referential density': Glyph, Fictions of Transgression and the 'Theory' Thing
9. 'Theory' and the novel (and the novel?)
10. Ghosts: of Ourselves or, Drifting with Hardy and Heidegger
11. The reiterable circularity of Being: Poetics, Selfhood, and the Singular Witness that is 'I'
12. Teaching Derrida: 'but just a minute, before we begin, a preface of sorts (after the event), a defence, apologia, apologue...', and other responses in the face of (yet another) programmed avoidance of reading
13. 'The strong dead return': Harold Bloom's Daemonic Shades
14. Face to Face with Giorgio Agamben or, the other in love 15. Responsibilities of J or, Aphorism's Other: Criticism's Transformation
Bibliography
Index

Rezensionen

'Julian Wolfreys continue to impress, as one of the finest readers -- and teachers -- of literature today, with this new book. From the original and multi-layered readings of novels from Dickens and Hardy to Ann Brontë and Percival Everett, Wolfreys moves us into an almost visceral recognition of the changeable and interchangeable natures of fiction and critical theory. The pages on J Hillis Miller are a virtual tour de force that brings the four topics of the title into brilliant focus.' - Juliet Flower MacCannell, Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature, University of California, Irvine, USA