Engagements with Contemporary Literary and Critical Theory

209 Pages·2020·4.509 MB·English

by  Evan Gottlieb

Engagements with Contemporary
Literary and Critical Theory
Engagements with Contemporary Literary and Critical Theory is a wide-
ranging but accessible introduction to the key thinkers and theories integral
to the study of literature. Organized thematically, the book provides histor-
ical introductions and uses a variety of relevant contemporary examples to
illuminate the field.
Evan Gottlieb contextualizes the latest developments with regard to
forms; discourses; subjectivities and embodiments; media, networks, and
machines; and animals, affects, objects, and environments. Each chapter
elucidates its concepts through in-depth discussions of major contemporary
theorists, including Giorgio Agamben, Sara Ahmed, and Catherine Mala-
bou, and uses engaging examples from a canonical novel, a contemporary
text, and a new-media artifact to demonstrate theoretical applications.
Additional text boxes regularly introduce emerging or overlooked theorists
of interest, including Fred Moten and Sianne Ngai.
An ideal guide for students of literary and critical theory, this book will
give readers the background they need to continue their own explorations
of this vibrant field of study.
Evan Gottlieb is Professor of English at Oregon State University, USA.
Routledge Engagements with Literature
Series Editor
Daniel Robinson
This series presents engagement as discovery. It aims to encourage ways to
read seriously and to help readers hone and develop new habits of thinking
critically and creatively about what they read – before, during, and after
doing it. Each book in the series actively involves its readers by encouraging
them to find their own insights, to develop their own judgments, and to
inspirethemtoenterongoingdebates.Moreover,eachEngagementsvolume:
(cid:129) Provides essential information about its topic as well as alternative
views and approaches;
(cid:129) Covers the classic scholarship on its topic as well as the newest
approaches and suggests new directions for study and research;
(cid:129) Includes innovative “Engagements” sections that demonstrate practices
for engaging with literature or that provide suggestions for further
independent engagement;
(cid:129) Provides an array of fresh, stimulating, and effective catalysts to read-
ing, thinking, writing, and research.
Above all, Engagements with Literature shows that actively engaging with
literature rewards the effort and that any reader can make new discoveries.
My hope is the books in this series will help readers discover new, better,
and more exciting and enjoyable ways of doing what we do when we read.
Available in this series:
Engagements with Close Reading
Annette Federico
Engagements with Narrative
Janine Utell
Engagements with Shakespearean Drama
William Walker
Engagements with Contemporary Literary and Critical Theory
Evan Gottlieb
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Engagements-with-Literature/book-series/EWL.
Engagements with
Contemporary Literary and
Critical Theory
Evan Gottlieb
Firstpublished2020
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
52VanderbiltAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2020EvanGottlieb
TherightofEvanGottliebtobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhas
beenassertedbyhiminaccordancewithsections77and78ofthe
Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedor
reproducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,or
othermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopying
andrecording,orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,
withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor
registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationand
explanationwithoutintenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Gottlieb,Evan,1975-author.
Title:Engagementswithcontemporaryliteraryandcriticaltheory/
EvanGottlieb.
Description:NewYork:Routledge,2019.|Series:Routledge
engagements
withliterature|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.|
Identifiers:LCCN2019024216|ISBN9781138853263(hardback)|
ISBN
9781138853270(paperback)|ISBN9781315722887(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Literature–Historyandcriticism–Theory,etc.–21st
century.|Criticaltheory–History–21stcentury.|
Criticism–History–21stcentury.|Literature–Philosophy–21stcentury.
Classification:LCCPN81.G6482019|DDC801/.95092–dc23LC
recordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019024216
ISBN:978-1-138-85326-3(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-138-85327-0(pbk)
ISBN:978-1-315-72288-7(ebk)
TypesetinSabon
bySwales&Willis,Exeter,Devon,UK
Contents
Listoftextboxes vii
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction 1
Structureofthebookandsomecaveats 5
References 8
1 Forms 9
Mattersofforminthetwentiethcentury 9
TerryEagleton:theMarxistcriticaspublicintellectual 14
FredricJameson:committingtoformandhistory 18
FrancoMoretti:maps,graphs,anddistantreading 23
Engagingwithclassicliterature:JaneAusten’sMansfieldPark 27
Engagingwithcontemporaryliterature:IanMcEwan’s
Atonement 30
Engagingwithfilmandnewmedia:Austenonthebigscreen 32
References 35
2 Discourses 39
Mattersofdiscourseinmodernity 39
JeanBaudrillard:prophetofthepostmodern 45
GiorgioAgamben:agenealogyofbiopolitics 50
ReyChow:entanglingethnicity,visuality,andlanguage 55
Engagingwithclassicliterature:EmilyBrontё’s
WutheringHeights 60
Engagingwithcontemporaryliterature:HariKunzru’s
WhiteTears 62
Engagingwithfilmandnewmedia:Easy 65
References 68
vi Contents
3 Subjectivitiesandembodiments 72
Thebirthofthesubject 72
SlavojŽižek:theorizingwithpsychoanalysisandMarxism 80
JudithButler:beyondgenderperformativity 85
CatherineMalabou:philosophy,plasticity,neuroscience 92
Engagingwithclassicliterature:DanielDefoe’s
TheAdventuresofRobinsonCrusoe 98
Engagingwithcontemporaryliterature:DonnaTartt’sThe
Goldfinch 102
Engagingwithfilmandnewmedia:TheFall 106
References 109
4 Media,networks,machines 113
Towardourcontemporarymediamoment 113
JacquesRancière:aestheticsforeveryone 120
BrunoLatour:fromnetworkstomodesofexistence
andbeyond 125
N.KatherineHayles:definingtheposthuman 134
Engagingwithclassicliterature:BramStoker’sDracula 141
Engagingwithcontemporaryliterature:GwynethJones’s
ProofofConcept 145
Engagingwithfilmandnewmedia:RyanCoogler’sBlackPanther 149
References 152
5 Animals,affects,objects,environments 156
Wehaveneverbeenhuman 156
DonnaHaraway:cyborgs,companionspecies,Chthulucene 161
SaraAhmed:affects,objects,andfeministkilljoys 168
TimothyMorton:beingecologicalwithobject-oriented
ontology 175
Engagingwithclassicliterature:MaryShelley’sFrankenstein 182
Engagingwithcontemporaryliterature:JeffVanderMeer’s
Annihilation 186
Engagingwithfilmandnewmedia:MargaretAtwood’sAngel
Catbird 189
References 192
Index 196
Text Boxes
1.1 FredMoten 16
1.2 PeterSloterdijk 20
1.3 JohannaDrucker 26
2.1 Jean-LucNancy 44
2.2 JoséEstebanMuñoz 52
2.3 SianneNgai 57
3.1 ElizabethGrosz 78
3.2 ChristinaSharpe 82
3.3 StacyAlaimo 94
4.1 GilbertSimondon 115
4.2 PaulVirilio 131
4.3 LisaGitelman 137
5.1 MichelSerres 164
5.2 LaurenBerlant 169
5.3 GrahamHarman 178
Acknowledgments
This book began to take shape when Daniel Robinson asked me to submit
a proposal for an introductory-style text on contemporary theory; my first
acknowledgment is thus to him. More recently, Polly Dodson and Zoē
Meyer at Routledge stepped in to help guide this project to publication,
which might not have happened without their professionalism and firm
support. I’m also grateful to the many anonymous press readers who
offered input on the initial proposal as well as the draft manuscript, and to
the following colleagues who provided much-needed, often pivotal feed-
back and suggestions for improvement: Neil Davison, Michael Demson,
Jon Josten, Christina Léon, Raymond Malewitz, Dave Mazella, Emily
McLemore, Steve Newman, Elizabeth Sheehan, Ted Underwood, Megan
Ward, Austin Webster, Paul Westover, and Mila Zuo. I also owe a deep
debt to the many students who’ve participated in my classes, seminars, and
workshops on theory since I began teaching at Oregon State University in
2003; without their curiosity, enthusiasm, and occasional skepticism,
I would have had neither the experience nor the desire to write this book.
Finally, thanks to my family for keeping me going throughout the long
process of bringing this manuscript to fruition.
Introduction
This book aims to be an accessible introduction to a variety of forms and
applications of contemporary literary and critical theory. Despite repeated
announcements of the death of theory, the field is flourishing. Engagements
with Contemporary Literary and Critical Theory is designed to familiarize
readers with some of the most exciting, innovative, and productive lines of
inquiry and sites of recent theoretical intervention.
Readers may have already noticed that this book doesn’t use the kind of
organizational frameworks that are common to many introductory theory
texts. Since this isn’t a historical study of theory’s development, it doesn’t
take a chronological approach; instead, each chapter begins with a section
exploring how we arrived at the present moment, after which the focus is
on key concepts and domains of inquiry that energize theoretical work
today. Additionally, I’ve opted not to use the classic “school-by-school”
approach favored by many introductions to theory. That framework has
some heuristic advantages, to be sure, but it’s also somewhat misleading,
since different so-called “schools” of theory often share similar origins (for
example, new historicism and postcolonial theory both owe a great debt to
Marxism), and influences have always flowed in multiple directions (for
example, deconstruction influenced feminism, which in turn re-influenced
deconstruction, and so on). Combined with the vigorous proliferation of
area studies and the ongoing cross-pollination of critical approaches and
methodologies, few contemporary theorists – and even fewer practicing
critics – tend to identify with a single “theory school.”
Before outlining the theoretical terms around which I’ve organized this
book, however, it’s worth dwelling for a moment on the terms in my title.
Saving “engagements” for slightly later, the first term of importance is “con-
temporary,”whichforthisbook’spurposesmarksaperiodbeginningaround
the turn of the twenty-first century. This millennial marker is convenient, of
course, but it also reflects some significant historical developments. From the
1970sthroughthe1990s,theory waslargelydefined byapowerfulcluster of
methodologiesthatpositioneditselfascomingafterthelinguisticandpolitical
certainties of the mid-twentieth century; hence the ubiquity of the prefix
“post” in theoretical designators like poststructuralism, postcolonialism, and