Literature

ISBN: 0231115229

Author: Woodring, Carl R.

Condition: New

Product Description Delving into the hotly debated issues surrounding the relevance of the humanities in today's society, this spirited and engaging book analyzes the history and current status of literary study in America. Carl Woodring-who played a central part in organizing Columbia University's Society of Fellows in the Humanities, which oversees the core program devoted to monumental works of civilizations and art-casts an astute eye on the culture wars, chastising both the radicals who have jettisoned humanism and the conservatives who reject any challenge to prevailing tastes. After examining the history of cultural, political, and commercial influences on literary study in North America from the early 1800s to the late 1990s, Woodring turns to the present state and future course of the university itself, discussing the larger institutional context of the contemporary humanities. From the role of technology in classrooms and libraries to needed changes in the tenure system, from the effect of the current emphasis on research and publication to helpful advice for young teachers, Literature: An Embattled Profession offers critical insights into ways to rescue the profession of literary study from insularity and dissension. Finally, Woodring delivers a devastating analysis of the bloated administrations that act as Ph.D. factories and show no regard for the future of the scholars they produce. From Publishers Weekly Occupying an excellent vantage from which to assess the state of his profession, Woodring (professor emeritus of English at Columbia) here happily resists the temptation to pen a polemical culture-wars screed. Instead, he combines a short history of his discipline with sensible recommendations for its future. Late 19th-century professors, seeking academic legitimacy, delved into linguistic history. In the early 20th century, biographical research became standard practice. The "New Critics" of the 1940s rejected research for interpretation; their methods proved perfect for teaching the floods of new students the G.I. Bill brought, while the newly invented paperback put more modern work, and more fiction, on syllabi. After the political upheaval of 1968, the ascendance of literary theory in the '70s deepened literary studies' "isolation from the general public," and approaches closer to everyday experienceAnotably feminist criticismAlargely failed to repair the gap. Now professors and critics must justify their work to anxious students and parents, to cost-conscious administrators and to state legislators. Neither reactionary nor defensive, Woodring prefers more research to more theory, and wants professors to address a wider reading public. His last three chapters pile on practical advice: he condemns academic "star systems," proposes to curb the use of part-time faculty, details programs for graduate training and explains the benefits of core curricula. Woodring (whose other books include Wordsworth and Virginia Woolf) writes in an odd, impersonal voice, in which abstract nouns and institutions become subjects of sentences wherever feasible. This tedious style may prove the only barrier between Woodring's intended broad readership and his useful, well-synthesized arguments. (July) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review An investigative and practical treatise on the state of the humanities. -- John Axcelson, Columbia University - The Wordsworth CircleWoodring eloquently shows how philosophical divisiveness combined with dwindling economic resourses has created upheaval in today's litearture departments. -- Ellen Sullivan - Library JournalWoodring... happily resists the temptation to pen a polemical culture-wars screed. Instead, he combines a short history of his discipline with sensible recommendations for its future. - Publishers Weekly About the Author Carl Woodring is Woodberry Professor Emeritus of Literature at Columbia University. He is the author of numero