Literary Theory and the Claims of History

At the core of postmodern thought, especially in literary theory, is the belief that such ideals as truth, reason, and objectivity are social constructs that have no universal or trans-historical validity. In exploring this constructivist view, Satya...

Satya P. Mohanty teaches in the Department of English at Cornell University.

Mohanty's theory is provocativeand the prose remains mercifully clear. The book deserves and rewards attention even from readers who may... begin it with skepticism and finish it unconverted.

Elizabeth Minnich, author of Transforming Knowledge:

Working through major debates and quandries in contemporary literary criticism and philosophy, Satya Mohanty emerges with a brilliantly sensible proposal for a comprehensive philosphical realism.

John McGowan, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill:

I learned something on almost every page of this book. Mohanty is a shrewd reader of the times and his unexpected angle of attack consistently bears fruit in making us see things anew. A good example is his discussion of Derrida, which seems to me right on target, and yet offers a vision of Derrida's project that never occurred to me or to anyone else as far as my knowledge of the literature on Derrida goes.

Domna Stanton, Editor, PMLA:

A challenging and inspiring book that grapples with unacknowledged epistemological issues in the postmodern critique of universalism, objectivity, reason, and experience. Mohanty rejects relativism and particularism in the name of a commonality that grants rational agency to all human subjects, and redefines objectivity as fallible and situated in outlining the need for a postpositivist realism at the turn of the twenty-first century. Crucial reading for all who are concerned with the conjuncture of contemporary theory and left social critique.