Attempts to rehabilitate the term and the practice of humanism to show, in fact, that in its pragmatic and pluralist form, humanism is inescapable for creatures with content-involving capacities. (TB)

Examines triadicity, which commits the interpreter to interpreting his or her own interpretations, as a defense against "gangster theories"--reductivist or positivist reasoning that fosters dichotomies such as fact versus opinion. Investigates poststructuralist understandings of meaning by taking a close look at Paul de Man's analysis of…

Describes how current critical literary theory has changed one teacher's approach to three canonical texts, by viewing texts as production and construction, unconsciously produced and inscribed by history, ideology, and politics. Notes that recent theory has been a liberating force allowing respect for student comments formerly deemed silly and…

Takes issue with Reed Way Dasenbrock's criticism of literary theory and the terms under which literary interpretation and discussion take place. Presents Dasenbrock's reply, which discusses his understanding of certain terms (evidence, truth, debate), his description of the problem, and the logical contradictions he finds internal to…

Identifies dangers in applying metaphors from one context to another. Asserts the necessity for feminist critical theorists to examine metaphor's status in their own discourse. Proposes a "therapeutic" investigation of metaphor as part of the power structure. Suggests locating a feminist investigation of metaphors in a vigilant awareness…

Argues that composition studies could use a paradigm shift: a turning from the threadbare ideology of the text to an alternative so mundane as to be overlooked, ordinary sensuous life, which is not an effect of thought but the basis of thought itself. (TB)

Argues for the canonicity of "Sonnet: The Token," a John Donne poem whose authorship has been in doubt for some decades. Employs deconstruction as its critical approach, though that approach is nearly passe in Renaissance studies, and it calls the issue of authorship into question. (TB)

Argues for the study of popular female authors of the Victorian era on two grounds: (1) issues concerning Victorian female writers are relevant to problems in Victorian literary scholarship and to discussions about the relationship between literary theory and feminism; and (2) their works were printed on acid paper. (TB)

Locates postcolonial pedagogy within the context of institutional circuits of production and consumption, finding that instead of expanding the student's experience with difference and diversity, it contains them through a managed encounter with otherness. (TB)

Argues for a revision of relativism in literary interpretation that supports, rather than undermines, efforts to explore the possibility of judgments of relative plausibility. Illustrates norms of interpretation and canons of evidence with examples drawn from interpretations of Shakespearean plays. Allays fears that any form of relativism…

Focuses on the paradoxical role played by exclusion in any attempt to create an inclusive space. Explores the nature of inclusion/exclusion dynamic in English Studies in general and more specifically in classrooms that use critical theory to address the need for social change. Concludes that the principle of exclusion is entangled with efforts at…