As a field, creative writing must reject its traditional image of "uselessness" and realize its anticapitalist, antiprivatizing potential as a creator of public space. In part, this move would involve teaching students to question traditional notions of influence, as well as the modernist concept of the author as a lone, autonomous individual.

Analyzes the writings of E. D. Hirsch, Jr., concluding that stability of meaning is inescapably a function of the perceived accuracy of an interpretation; it is not an intrinsic feature of the text. (DD)

Discusses the presence of a diabolical tempter in several works of Utopian fiction. (DD)

Argues for two basic kinds of literary analysis: one which attempts to discover the meaning intended by the author, and one which treats the poem as an illustration of a system of ideas independent of the text and its author. (DD)

Presents the reactions of ten advanced students in a Colloquium for Psychoanalytic Criticism to Denise Levertov's "To the Snake." (DD)

Argues the need for explicit rules for the use of critical terms, and provides four such rules. (DD)

Discusses the critical paradigms that have shaped thinking about lyric poetry, dominated by the prose/lyric antithesis. Argues that these antitheses, based on Aristotle's dismissal of versification as the defining feature of poetic discourse, are unnecessary, and that the argumentative, dramatic, expressive, and prosodic motives need not be…

Investigates the interrelation of the histories of rhetoric and literary studies by examining in detail the writings of Victorian sage Walter Pater. (SR)

Considers Nathaniel Hawthorne's literary technique of providing various, often conflicting, accounts of a narrative scene or event. Analyzes Hawthorne's rhetoric of rumor as featured in "The Scarlet Letter." Shows how Hawthorne tried to translate the dynamics of interpersonal communication into print in this novel. (HB)

Considers how teaching Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" creates special problems--and thus affords special opportunities--not encountered in the reading of or critical response to this text. Discusses different editions of "Frankenstein" and reasons for using them. Notes that "Frankenstein" is a story that appeals to all…

Examines how a number of modern innovative authors use chronological progression, causal connection, and narrative voice in their novels. Analyzes texts by Alain Robbe-Grillet and Jeanette Winterson, noting the areas of connection and disjunction between the theoretical claims and actual practice of experimental authors. (NH)

Examines three representative short poems to illustrate some of the difficulties that traditional textual criticism would encounter with them. Outlines some ways in which different approaches could deal with these difficulties. (RL)

Argues that modern cultural and literary forces have altered the direction of literary criticism. Suggests that structuralist criticism has given way to poststructuralism. Asserts that poststructuralism represses differences between apparently separate things while holding that words assume meaning through the operation of language. Critiques…

Shows how English teachers can use film to upgrade the literary consciousness of theatre goer and reader alike. (RL)