Beyond Poststructuralism

The essays in Part I of Beyond Poststructuralism seek to demonstrate fallacies of structuralist and poststructuralist thought that remain potent even though the theoretical structures that led to their enunciation have lost much of their original influence. These fallacies include the idea that one must avoid the consideration of authorial intention; that meanings are undecidable; that there is no justification for seeking unity in a text; that all hierarchies of value are reversible; that history is no more than an open contest among competing narrative constructions; and that the very nature of language makes the falsifiability of statements about human experience impossible.

The essays in Part II suggest ways to bring literary study into closer relation with human experience of the world. Their authors emphasize the role of literature in providing new perspectives and broadening the range of available alternatives to what is threatening, unjust, fallacious, or absurd in social and cultural structures.

Contributors are Bernard Bergonzi, John Holloway, Wendell V. Harris, A. D. Nuttall, Raymond Tallis, John Searle, Richard Levin, Robert Scholes, James Battersby, David Bromwich, Quentin Kraft, Michael Fischer, Charles Altieri, Christopher Clausen, Gayle Greene, André Lefevere, Daniel R. Schwarz, Virgil Nemoianu, and Martha Nussbaum.

“Beyond Postructuralism will play a significant role as a focus for a gathering movement to recover more accessible readings of literature.”—Eva T. H. Brann, St. John's College

Wendell V. Harris is Professor of English at Penn State University. His previous books include Dictionary of Concepts in Literary Criticism and Theory (1992) and Interpretive Acts: In Search of Meaning (1988).

Literary Studies

           Literary Theory & Criticism

Philosophy