Introduction: Criticism in a Difficult Time

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Introduction: Criticism in a Difficult Time 1
5. A Critic’S Progress
6. 1. The Case for Scholarly 13
7. 2. Declarations of Independence 20
8. 3. On Critique and Inheritance 27
9. 4. What I Believe and Why 33
10. 5. Hearing Losses and Gains 42
11. 6. Long Island Intellectual 50
12. Academic Labor
13. 7. We Work 59
14. 8. What Is Criticism on Academic Labor For? 67
15. 9. “All Things Visible and Invisible”: Believing in Higher Education 74
16. 10. Against Heroism 82
17. 11. Pack Consciousness 87
18. Declarations of Politics
19. 12. Activism and Curriculum 95
20. 13. Revolutionary Consciousness 101
21. 14. Geopolitical Translators 107
22. 15. Critical Credo 115
23. 16. This I Believed 121
24. 17. “Hope Dies Last”: Cultural Studies and Studs Terkel 129
25. Pedagogical Moments
26. 18. Credo of a Teacher 137
27. 19. Of Credos and Credibility 140
28. 20. Teaching Friction 146
29. 21. Coerced Confessions 151
30. 22. On Race and Literature 157
31. 23. Teaching Theory 164
32. 24. Affect Is the New Trauma 173
33. The Defense of Literature
34. 25. Access to the Universal: Language, Literature, and the Humanities 183
35. 26. Wrestling with the Angel: A Modest Critical Credo 188
36. 27. Everyday Aesthetics 193
37. 28. Criticism Is Vital 202
38. 29. Critical Credo 208
39. 30. Why I’m Still Writing Women’s Literary History 217
40. New Turns
41. 31. Without Evidence 229
42. 32. All There Is to Use 237
43. 33. Open 245
44. 34. Timing 252
45. 35. The Politics of Small Problems 257
46. 36. The Power of Unknowing 264
47. List of Contributors 271