Professions: Conversations on the Future of Literary and Cultural Studies [Paperback]

Donald E. Hall (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0252069617 | ISBN-13: 978-0252069611 | Publication Date: June 4, 2001

Sometimes playful, always provocative, "Professions" is a collection of searching and candid conversations - ranging from dialogues to tongue-in-cheek diatribes - on the issues that face literary and cultural critics today. This volume bares professional concerns, relationships, ambitions, and insecurities about working in academe. "Professions" provides hard-to-get insider information for students contemplating an academic career. It also challenges professional scholars to retrieve the intellectual curiosity that drew them to scholarship in the first place while demonstrating how disagreement on controversial issues can be conducted with respect, good humor, and an open mind. "Professions" features: Jane Tompkins and Gerald Graff; John McGowan and Regenia Gagnier; James Phelan and James Kincaid; Marjorie Perloff and Robert von Hallberg; Judith Jackson Fossett and Kevin Gaines; Dennis W. Allen and Judith Roof; Niko Pfund, Gordon Hutner, and Martha Banta; Geoffrey Galt Harpham; Donald E. Hall and Susan S. Lanser; and, J. Hillis Miller, Herbert Lindenberger, Sandra Gilbert, Bonnie Zimmerman, Nellie Y. McKay, and Elaine Marks.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This volume comprises neither clearly conservative voices nor extreme radical manifestoes (and hence no angry voices). Hall posits the 'dissensus' rather than the consensus model for debates on curriculum and literary theory... Useful for graduate students trying to make sense of the conversations and conflicts gripping literary academics." -- Choice ADVANCE PRAISE "Every Ph.D. student in English -- and every teacher of Ph.D. students in English -- should read this book. Professions will help students think hard about what's at stake in graduate school and help them decide whether they want to try joining the professoriate. The conversations and intellectual fun in this timely book provoke us to join in with conversations of our own." -- Robert Dale Parker, author of The Unbeliever: The Poetry of Elizabeth Bishop

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (June 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252069617
• ISBN-13: 978-0252069611
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,759,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)