Theory's Empire: An Anthology of Dissent

by Daphne Patai (Editor), Will H. Corral (Editor)

Not too long ago, literary theorists were writing about the death of the novel and the death of the author; today many are talking about the death of Theory. Theory, as the many theoretical ism's (among them postcolonialism, postmodernism, and New Historicism) are now known, once seemed so exciting but has become ossified and insular. This iconoclastic collection is an excellent companion to current anthologies of literary theory, which have embraced an uncritical stance toward Theory and its practitioners. Written by nearly fifty prominent scholars, the essays in Theory's Empire question the ideas, catchphrases, and excesses that have let Theory congeal into a predictable orthodoxy. More than just a critique, however, this collection provides readers with effective tools to redeem the study of literature, restore reason to our intellectual life, and redefine the role and place of Theory in the academy.

Genres: Philosophy, Criticism, Theory, Literature, Literary Criticism, Academic

736 pages, Paperback

First published April 20, 2005

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems a bit of a mixed bag, but some good interesting essays in here.

Reading/skimming it alongside "Framing Theory's Empire" was nice, provided some balance.

In the end, where are we? Well, good "Theory" writing we like. Shoddy poseur argument-from-authority and fallacious-(pseudo)-scientific-analogy... not so much.

It actually seems like things have probably turned a corner anyway. Aren't most university literature courses not theoretical enough rather than too theoretical? Anyway, it's too bad that it seems like for a good chunk of years there were lots of folks getting turned off by the orthodoxy of Theory. (Which, properly understood, should have been undermining its own orthodoxy anyway.) (Should that be "heterodoxing its own orthodoxy anyway"?)

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid, intellectually stimulating, and topically diverse anthology. It was an excellent mental exercise to trod my way through, and some of the articles were enormously entertaining, astute, and humorous. (You know you're a nerd when this is the kind of book that gets you chortling...) I have heavily annotated my copy, complete with lots of garish highlighting and interjections of disagreement or agreement, and I now have about a dozen new book recommendations for myself. The one I'm most excited about is Fashionable Nonsense, co-written by Sokal, author of the (hilarious and demonstrative) Sokal hoax. This book does suffer, however, from a lack of radical feminist criticism of the postmodernist and queer theory trend, a la Sheila Jeffreys, a perspective that is even more silenced in the halls of academia, but I suppose the editors, despite their otherwise staunch claims to the title of "freethinkers", wouldn't consider such individuals under their purview - the editors and article writers are more "reasonable" than "radical", I would say, for the most part. (I was surprised to find Chomsky in here!)