Recent work in critical theory

Style, Winter, 1995 by William Baker, Kenneth Womack

This alphabetically arranged bibliography annotates recently published books and some journal articles and is based primarily on materials coming into the Northern Illinois University libraries between June 1994 and May 1995. Inclusion does not mean exclusion in a subsequent Style bibliography or review. Our remarks will simply convey the basic content of each monograph as objectively as possible. The publication dates for most of the items are 1994 and 1995, although some monographs have earlier imprints.

As noted in previous surveys of "Recent Work in Critical Theory," it has been difficult to arrange systematically in subject categories the wealth of recent monograph material in the field of critical theory; some placement is ineluctably arbitrary. While only too aware of the limitations of categories, we have adopted the following rubrics: 1. General; 2. Semiotics, Narratology, Rhetoric, and Language Systems; 3. Postmodernism and Deconstruction; 4. Reader-Response and Phenomenological Criticism; 5. Feminist and Gender Studies; 6. Psychoanalytic Criticism; 7. Historical Criticism.

(1) General

Adell, Sandra. Double-Consciousness/Double Bind: Theoretical Issues in Twentieth-Century Black Literature. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1994.

Drawing upon the works of such figures as Leopold Senghor, Aime Cesaire, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Houston A. Baker, Jr., Adell explores the social and critical place of African-American literature in the twentieth century. Adell affords particular emphasis to the issues that confront African-American critics in the 1990s, especially regarding critical preconceptions about the transformational powers of literature and the efficacy of theoretical discourse as an agent of social, political, and psychological change.

Albertine, Susan, ed. A Living of Words: American Women in Print Culture. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1995.

Albertine's edition traces the evolution of women's entrepreneurship in print culture from the colonial era through the early twentieth century. Selections include: Albertine's introduction; Margaret Lane Ford's "Types and Gender: Ann Franklin, Colonial Printer"; Barbara A. Bardes and Suzanne Gossett's "Sarah J. Hale, Selective Promoter of Her Sex"; Bruce A. Ronda's "Print and Pedagogy: The Career of Elizabeth Peabody"; Rodger Streitmatter's "Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin: Pioneering African-American Newspaper Publisher"; Elizabeth Horan's "Mabel Loomis Todd, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, and the Spoils of the Dickinson Legacy"; Susan Albertine's "Cakes and Poetry: The Career of Harriet Moody"; Ann Massa's "Form Follows Function: The Construction of Harriet Monroe and Poetry, A Magazine of Verse"; Barbara Diggs-Brown's "Ida B. Wells-Barnett: About the Business of Agitation"; Karen S. Langlois' "Marketing the American Indian: Mary Austin and the Business of Writing"; Holly Baggett's "The Trials of Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap"; Noel Riley Fitch's "Sylvia Beach: Commerce, Sanctification, and Art on the Left Bank"; and Mary Lynn Broe's "'Yes, No, Peut-etre': Caresse Crosby After the Black Sun Set."

Alexander, Peter F. Alan Paton: A Biography. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1994.

In addition to offering new interpretations of Alan Paton's principal literary achievements - including such works as Cry, the Beloved Country, and Paton's autobiographies, Towards the Mountain and Journey Continued - Alexander explores the author's troubled childhood, his abiding struggle against apartheid, and his eventual position as President of South Africa's Liberal Party. Using Paton's unpublished manuscripts, personal correspondence, and diaries, Alexander reveals the manner in which the writer attempted to foment profound change in South Africa through the bold narratives of his fictional and nonfictional efforts.

Allen, Orphia Jane. Barbara Pym: Writing a Life. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1994.

Allen explores the manner in which Barbara Pym employs the personal nuances of her biographical life in an effort to create the remarkable fictive world of her novels. Allen supplements her study with a bibliographical essay, "Critical Approaches to Barbara Pym and Her Novels," as well as her enumerative "Barbara Pym Bibliography: A Comprehensive Listing of Primary and Secondary Published Materials."

Anderson, Vicki. Native Americans in Fiction: A Guide to 765 books for Librarians and Teachers, K-9. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1994.

Anderson's expansive bibliography affords students and librarians alike with annotations for 765 fictional titles representing the works of 115 different tribes. Ranging in date from 1960 to 1993, the books included in Anderson's study offer a diversity of cultural perspectives, including particular emphasis upon the daily lives and social value systems of Native Americans and their remarkable contributions to the evolution and development of the United States.

Benson, Eugene, and L. W. Conolly. Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English. 2 vols. London: Routledge, 1994.

Benson and Conolly's immense volume offers more than 1,600 biographical and critical entries regarding literary works and writers from more than 50 countries and mandated territories. Alphabetically arranged into three major divisions - including national entries, major subject or genre entries, and a variety of broad literary overviews - Benson and Conolly's volume offers a valuable reference work that explores the effect of the colonial and post-colonial experience.