Professional Correctness: Literary Studies and Political Change - Softcover

Fish, Stanley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 067471220X ISBN 13: 9780674712201

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1999

Synopsis

The discipline of literary criticism is strictly defined, and the most pressing issues of our time―racism, violence against women and homosexuals, cultural imperialism, and the like―are located outside its domain. In Professional Correctness, Stanley Fish raises a provocative challenge to those who try to turn literary studies into an instrument of political change, arguing that when literary critics try to influence society at large by addressing social and political issues, they cease to be literary critics at all.

Anyone interested in the debate over the place of cultural studies in the field of literary criticism, or the more general question of whether academics can become the "public intellectuals" many aspire to be, needs to read Fish's powerful and unconventional argument for restoring discipline to the academy.

About this title

From the Back Cover

The book is by far the most powerful critique yet written of recent developments in academic humanities that have made interdisciplinary boundary crossing, cultural studies, and politically oriented textual analysis the dominant trend. Fish writes with a wit and dash that make him every bit as readable as the most nasty neocons while being vastly better informed.-Gerald Graff, Professor of English, University of Chicago

About the Author

Stanley Fish is Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor of Humanities and Law at Florida International University. His many books include There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech: And It’s a Good Thing, Too.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 067471220X
• ISBN 13: 9780674712201
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160