The pleasures of Babel : contemporary American literature and theory
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The pleasures of Babel : contemporary American literature and theory
Oxford University Press, 1993
- : pbk
Available at 15 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Bibliography: p. 171-195
Includes indexes
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
ISBN 9780195083729
Description
This study offers a lucid explication of the often stormy relationship between contemporary American literature and criticism. Repudiating the jargon of theory, it systematically makes sense of the movements of the last two decades: deconstruction, feminism. The author fuses a layman's guide to recent criticism with a scholarly work that directly engages theories of narrative by applying them to the works of prominent American writers.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780195083736
Description
The Pleasures of Babel acquaints the layperson and the expert alike with the creative and intellectual achievements of America's multicultural society. Arguing that the present is "a great period of writing," Jay Clayton relates novels from the seventies, eighties, and nineties to the latest developments in literary theory. He offers a lucid, cutting-edge look at the often stormy relationship between contemporary literature and criticism. Avoiding
theoretical jargon, Clayton systematically sets out to make sense of the critical movements of the last two decades: deconstruction, psychoanalysis, minority writing, multiculturism, and feminism. In the course of clarifying the accomplishments of Barthes, Kristeva, Lyotard, Said, and others, the author also provides
detailed exegeses of some of America's most prominent writers of fiction: Saul Bellow, Sandra Cisneros, E.L. Doctorow, and Toni Morrison. The result successfully weds a layperson's guide to recent criticism with a scholarly application of that criticism to the very works it concerns. In light of the current debates being waged over the canon and multiculturalism, The Pleasures of Babel should prove an indispensable tool for those engaged in the practice of literary criticism, as well
as anyone concerned with the way in which narrative interacts with society.
by "Nielsen BookData"