Seductive Reasoning: Pluralism as the Problematic of Contemporary Literary Theory

Seductive Reasoning: Pluralism as the Problematic of Contemporary Literary Theory
ISBN-10
1501706993
ISBN-13
9781501706998
Category
Literary Criticism
Pages
256
Language
English
Published
2016-11-01
Publisher
Cornell University Press
Author
Ellen Rooney

Description

Seductive Reasoning takes a provocative look at contemporary Anglo-American literary theory, calling into question the critical consensus on pluralism's nature and its status in literary studies. Drawing on the insights of Marxist and feminist critical theory and on the works of Althusser, Derrida, and Foucault, Rooney reads the pluralist’s invitation to join in a "dialogue" as a seductive gesture. Critics who respond find that they must seek to persuade all of their potential readers. Rooney examines pluralism as a form of logic in the work of E. D. Hirsch, as a form of ethics for Wayne Booth, as a rhetoric of persuasion in the books of Stanley Fish. For Paul de Man, Rooney argues, pluralism was a rhetoric of tropes just as it was, for Fredric Jameson, a form of politics.

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