Description:
In a clear and readable style, Living with Theory maps out contemporary theory, tracing its complex configurations, its political preoccupations, and its relations with literature.
- Argues that the field of theory in late postmodern consumer society has become overburdened with new ideas, and that there is an essential need for guides and signposts in this complex field
- Maps out contemporary theory, tracing its complex configurations, its political preoccupations, and its relations with literature
- Explores the engagement of theory with such phenomena as globalization and postmodernism, multiculturalism and cultural wars, plus the rise of neoliberalism and the corporate university
- Highlights the current reconfiguration of critical reading and its potential future
Review Quotes: "The depth of knowledge, range and intellectual authority contained in Living with Theory, combined with the leading reputation of Professor Leitch, makes this book a key contribution to the study, teaching, and evaluation of literature, theory, and criticism. Rigorous and fair-minded, but ultimately affirmative, Leitch's book should be recommended reading on both undergraduate and graduate courses."
William Cain, Wellesley College
"Vincent Leitch is one of the leading cultural theorists in the US. Engaging and readable, Living with Theory is firmly grounded in cutting-edge debates about teaching theory, the economics of academe, and the role of literary criticism in a postmodern age. The book will appeal to a wide readership within the academy and among general readers concerned with the nexus between theory and politics."
Helen Fulton, Swansea University