Canons and Contexts

“Excellent…An important, provocative book that…adds much to the heated discussion of the canon.”–American Literature”The essays in this volume challenge the traditional canon from a feminist and multicultural perspective; they also discuss the politics of higher education…as the context in which the canon debate is being played out. In addition… the book is a brilliant work of critical theory, one that eschews theoretical jargon in order to interrogate the discourses of texts and of criticism.“–The Women’s Review of Books”The debate between theory and action is as old as the idea of reform….I do not question the real value of the work Lauter has done in the profession and in his writings, collected here, over the past twenty years. Lauter himself proposes a ‘functional’ approach to the study of literature, and, from one perspective, his work can most usefully be understood through its function in the profession and through its role in creating change.“–Peter Carafiol,Association of Departments of English Journal”Lauter has consistently been among the first to focus attention on the political issues that concern literature professors now. Over and over again his book reminds us, powerfully and with a wealth of knowledge and insight, that ‘what is involved in literary history is survival.’“–Jane Tompkins, Duke University”If you want to see what it means to bring remarkable interpretive sophistication and exemplary moral conscience to the historically grounded study of American literature, read these essays. In fact, read them more than once.“–Michael Cowan, University of California, Santa Cruz”Excellent…An important, provocative book that…adds much to the heated discussion of the canon.“–American Literature”The essays in this volume challenge the traditional canon from a feminist and multicultural perspective; they also discuss the politics of higher education…as the context in which the canon debate is being played out. In addition… the book is a brilliant work of critical theory, one that eschews theoretical jargon in order to interrogate the discourses of texts and of criticism.“–The Women’s Review of Books”The debate between theory and action is as old as the idea of reform….I do not question the real value of the work Lauter has done in the profession and in his writings, collected here, over the past twenty years. Lauter himself proposes a ‘functional’ approach to the study of literature, and, from one perspective, his work can most usefully be understood through its function in the profession and through its role in creating change.“–Peter Carafiol,Association of Departments of English Journal”Lauter has consistently been among the first to focus attention on the political issues that concern literature professors now. Over and over again his book reminds us, powerfully and with a wealth of knowledge and insight, that ‘what is involved in literary history is survival.’“–Jane Tompkins, Duke University”If you want to see what it means to bring remarkable interpretive sophistication and exemplary moral conscience to the historically grounded study of American literature, read these essays. In fact, read them more than once.“–Michael Cowan, University of California, Santa Cruz”No one has a clearer sense and better feel for the development of the field of American literature and the teaching of humanities in our universities over the last three decades than Paul Lauter. This book is essential for understanding the cultural history of the United States and its underlying politics since the 1950s. In addition to charting the best that has been thought and written on issues of the literary canon and literature curricula, these essays,taken together, are a learned and passionate call for serious university reform.“–Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside”No one has done more than Paul Lauter to reopen the possibility of a democratic American culture, democratically studied and critically transmitted. Canons and Contexts offers a canny optimism and much practical wisdom to help us reconceive and act responsibly within this latest ‘crisis’ of the humanities.“–Richard Ohmann, Wesleyan University”Essential reading for everyone interested in higher education. Lauter vigorously explores the backgrounds of such recent crises in higher education as retrenchment, the role of women and minorities in academe, and the American literature curriculum. His book is a strong rejoinder to ideas of higher education set forth by Alan Bloom, E.D. Hirsch, and William Bennett.“–A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff, University of Illinois at Chicago”Lauter’s work is distinguished by passion, intellect, and scholarship. He makes the case for a changing literary canon by linking the canon debate to the purposes of higher education in an American democracy.“–Irwin Polishook, President, Professional Staff Congress, CUNY”Lauter’s essays brilliantly connect the canon in American literature, contemporary issues in literary theory, analysis of power relations in the academy, discussion of social injustice in America, and debate about the quality and mission of higher education in the United States. The answer to Bloom, Hirsch, et al. A truly important book.“–Elizabeth Ammons, Tufts University”For the past two decades Paul Lauter has been one of the most courageous reconsiderers of American literature, its contents, and its role in American life. This collection–a recapitulation of Lauter’s career of struggle with these issues–will make important reading for everyone concerned with American literature and what it could be.“–Richard Brodhead, Yale University”Canons and Contexts is an autobiography, a literary history, a theoretical speculation. It is a polemic and a practicum that emobodies the ‘disillusion, discouragement and anger’ that Lauter describes as contending with the ‘hope, aspiration, freshness’ in our profession and in our lives. I’m delighted to have this book. I will refer to it often in my work and for my pleasure.“–Frances Smith Foster, University of California, La Jolla”Convinced that education has a central role to play in the politics and social progress of our country, Paul Lauter has devoted his academic life to the struggle to change an all-white and almost-all-male literary canon to reflect the contributions that women and people of color have brought to American life and letters….Canons and Contexts, which questions market-oriented American higher education, brings together in one place his most significantthoughts and ideas on many of the key issues that define this struggle. It is a book not to be missed by anyone in higher education who believes in the possibilities of an equitable democraticsociety.“–Nellie Y. McKay, University of Wisconsin”An important work. Essential reading for all who are currently concerned with issues of the canon and the teaching of American literature.“–Elaine Hedges, Towson State University”Oxford University Press is to be thanked for publishing the major position papers of one of American scholarship’s most committed canonical revisionists.“–Lawrence Buell, Harvard University”Lauter combines wide knowledge with cogency and coherence in a remarkable display of what constitutes the whole of American Literature. His honesty and intellectual rigor are as keen as ever, and his style is a delight in its clarity and analysis.“–Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, University of Texas”For those confused by the media-babble concerning the curriculum, the academic profession, and the function of education in a democracy, this is the one book to read. Lauter brings clarity and fairness to a debate largely tainted by vacuous rhetoric.“–Louis Kampf, Massachusetts Institute of Technology”Lauter’s incisive essays have helped change the direction of critical thinking over the past decade. It’s splendid to have the familiar work, with the new, all in one place. A crucial book for the 1990s.“–Linda Wagner-Martin, University of North Carolina”In this wide-ranging collection, Paul Lauter addresses central problems in both the teaching and the criticism of literature that will be at the forefront of professional debate on into the coming century.“–Eric Sundquist, UCLA”Paul Lauter has been among the most active and influential proponents of such change.“–ADE Bulletin

Paul Lauter is the Smith Professor of Literature at Trinity College. He has served as president of the American Studies Association and is a major figure in the revision of the American literary canon.