Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages and Literatures

by David G. Nicholls (editor)

The third edition of the MLA's widely used Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages and Literatures features sixteen new essays by leading scholars. Designed to highlight relations among languages and forms of discourse, the volume is organized into three sections. "Understanding Language" provides an overview of the field of linguistics, with special attention to language acquisition and the social life of languages. "Forming Texts" offers tools for understanding how speakers and writers shape language; it examines scholarship in the distinct but interrelated fields of rhetoric, composition, and poetics. "Reading Literature and Culture" continues the work of the first two sections by introducing major areas of critical study. The nine essays in this section cover textual and historical scholarship; interpretation; comparative, cultural, and translation studies; and the interdisciplinary topics of gender, sexuality, race, and migrations (among others). As in previous volumes, an epilogue examines the role of the scholar in contemporary society.

Each essay discusses the significance, underlying assumptions, and limits of an important field of inquiry; traces the historical development of its subject; introduces key terms; outlines modes of research now being pursued; postulates future developments; and provides a list of suggestions for further reading. This book will interest any member of the academic community seeking a review of recent scholarship, while it provides an indispensable resource for undergraduate and graduate students of modern languages and literatures.

Genres: Nonfiction, Academia

370 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

David G. Nicholls is an American editor and literary scholar. He began his career in the early 1990s as editor of the Chicago Review. The literary quarterly produced a variety of special issues at that time, including one which formed the basis for The Penguin New Writing in India. After completing the PhD in English at the University of Chicago, he was awarded Rockefeller and Fulbright postdoctoral fellowships to complete two books on African-American literature. In 2001, he began a decade of service to the Modern Language Association as its director of book publications. There, he edited the third edition of the MLA's Introduction to Scholarship and oversaw development of the third edition of the MLA Style Manual and the seventh edition of the MLA Handbook. He currently writes and edits from his home on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

Reviews

[Robert Bartram · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a substantial portion of my brain power to read these essays. I'm forced now to replenish that mental power by reading entertainingly trival but gripping tales of flight, fury, and furnaces!

[Parlei · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book, very thorough, but paints with very broad strokes. It introduces different lines of scholarship within certain disciplinary, theoretical, or critical frameworks and so it can in some places seem tepid or moderate. I think a more thorough discussion of some of the crises and hottest disputes (which some authors do) would be helpful, especially for new readers who are not aware of some of the intellectual or academic polemics. Either way, it's mostly useful as a resource book--who are the big names in each field--than it is to get a full in-depth understanding of that field (but this is just my reading of a few of the essays, mainly Donadey/Lionnet's article Feminisms, Genders, Seualities and Friedman's article Migrations, Diasporas, and Borders.) If you read closely you can also get a pretty good understanding of the discipline's particular worldviews. I hope to return to read Venuti's article about Translation Studies when I have time.

[Dusty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am a bit disappointed in myself for my lack of time and initiative to finish this textbook. It's not bad. It's essentially an anthology of essays written by professionals in the languages and literatures disciplines who're summarizing for newbies the ins and outs of their fields -- a "state of the union" of the profession, so to speak. Some of the essays were absolute slugs to read through -- like the chapter on textual analysis, literally the study of the process of printing books as it has evolved over the years -- but I imagine I'll be happy to have this book as a resource on my shelf when, someday, I write and present a conference paper.