In Cold War Criticism and the Politics of Skepticism, Tobin Siebers claims that modern criticism is a Cold War criticism. Postwar literary theory has absorbed the skepticism, suspicion, and paranoia of the Cold War mentality, and it plays them out in debates about the divided self, linguistic indeterminacy, the metaphysics of presence, multiculturalism, canon formation, power, cultural literacy, and the politics of literature. The major critical movements of the postwar age, Siebers argues, belong to three dominant phases of the Cold War era. The age of charismatic leadership characterized by Churchill, FDR, Stalin, and Hitler lies behind the preoccupation with "intention," "affect," and "impersonality" found in the New Criticism. The age of propaganda motivates the fascination with the guiles of language, undecidability, and deconstruction. The age of superpowers provides the dominant metaphor in the new historicism's analysis of the technology of power. All three ages of criticism reflect the skepticism of the Cold War mentality, and this skepticism, Siebers posits, has impaired the ability of literary theorists to talk about the politics of criticism in an effective way. A trenchant analysis of postwar theory, Siebers's work presents a new view of the politics of criticism and a surprising vision of what theory must do if it is to enter the post Cold War era successfully.
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Editorial Reviews
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"Siebers makes a compelling case for analyzing the past forty years of criticism in relation to Cold War anxieties and the kind of skepticism it generated. His argument thus provides a fresh and necessary perspective on the current scene of criticism."--John Johnston, Emory University
"[A] lively polemical essay....In the midst of the sterile repetition that marks such criticism today, Siebers' book sings a different tune-and why not listen to the Sirens just this once?"--MLN
"[A] lively polemical essay....In the midst of the sterile repetition that marks such criticism today, Siebers' book sings a different tune-and why not listen to the Sirens just this once?"--MLN
About the Author
Tobin Siebers is at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From the Cold War to the Culture Wars,
By "elljwb" (The Lion City) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cold War Criticism and the Politics of Skepticism (Odeon) (Paperback)
This book is a fine exploration of the influence the cold war has had on literary criticism during the past fifty years. Siebers shows how apparent opposites (New Critics and Paul de Man, say) are strange bedfellows in that they all avoid genuine political engagements by insulating themselves with skepticism. Real politics, Siebers shows in his chapter on Hannah Arendt, is defined by costs. Well written, fun to read. This book hasn't gotten nearly the attention it deserves.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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cold war criticism, skeptical project, affective fallacy, skeptical criticism, skeptical theory, wartime journalism, skeptical self, pure rhetoric Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Paul de Man, New York, Cornell University Press, World War, Columbia University Press, Hannah Arendt, Hillis Miller, New Criticism, University of Chicago Press, University of Minnesota Press, The Ethics of Reading, The Politics of Storytelling, The Affective Fallacy, New Critical, New Haven, United States, Michel Foucault, Yale University Press, Critical Inquiry, Soviet Union, Leo Bersani, New Critics, Shakespearean Negotiations, University of California Press, The Rhetoric of Blindness Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
cold war criticism, skeptical project, affective fallacy, skeptical criticism, skeptical theory, wartime journalism, skeptical self, pure rhetoric Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Paul de Man, New York, Cornell University Press, World War, Columbia University Press, Hannah Arendt, Hillis Miller, New Criticism, University of Chicago Press, University of Minnesota Press, The Ethics of Reading, The Politics of Storytelling, The Affective Fallacy, New Critical, New Haven, United States, Michel Foucault, Yale University Press, Critical Inquiry, Soviet Union, Leo Bersani, New Critics, Shakespearean Negotiations, University of California Press, The Rhetoric of Blindness Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
16
books
cite this book:
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- Political Fiction and the American Self by John Whalen-bridge on 5 pages
- Ethics and Narrative in the English Novel, 1880-1914 by Jil Larson on page 1, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Cold War Literature: Writing the Global Conflict (Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature) by Andrew Hammond on page 13, and Back Matter
- Situating Sartre in Twentieth Century Thought and Culture by Jean-Francois Fourny in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Philip K. Dick: Contemporary Critical Interpretations (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy) by Samuel J. Umland in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
See all 16 books citing this book
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