This is a book about English in Universities today. It is not a book about theory, nor pedagogy, nor history, although it touches on all of those things as it confronts, reports on and debates English in its many and various contexts in the UK, in mainland Europe, in the US, Canada, and South Africa. It is designed for those who teach English language and literature as well as those who are students of the subject.
English is one of the most widely taught university subjects in the world. What has happened to the subject in the last ten years or more following the advent of theory and the further expansion of student numbers? How do its lecturers now regard their discipline? What do they believe should be taught, and how? What are the political contexts of English? This book raises such questions alongside many others as its contributors debate, describe, analyse or advocate English at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
'It is a while since the subject took a long, hard look at itself and so Philip Martin's book is an invaluable and timely intervention into discussions about the position and direction of the discipline at a moment when English Studies is still deliberating ways forward after the theory wars. This stimulating collection of wide-ranging essays reveals once more the subject's diversity while registering a thoughtful anxiety over threats from without as much as undertaking a renewed scrutiny of differences of opinion within.' - Professor Peter Childs, Dean of Research, University of Gloucestershire, UK
Acknowledgements
Preface
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: The Condition of the Subject; P.W.Martin
PART I: ENGLISH IN THE PLURAL
Only One Subject? Englishness in Continental Europe; M.Kayman
Common Speech, Uncommon Discourse: Whose English is English?; R.Carter
In Search of the Subject: English in the New South Africa; N.Distiller
The Condition of Indian Writing in English Today; R.Krishnaswamy
Twin-share Accommodation: English and Creative Writing; G.Harper
PART II: CURRICULA
English Studies and the Life of the Mind; C.Hamilton
English after Anti-Humanism; A.Mousley
Deskilling English: Theory, Cynicism and Ethics; L.Steven
Firm Foundations? The Condition of English at A level; C.Atherton
Defending the Canon; G.Day
Class Work: Site of Egalitarian Activism or Site of Embourgeoisment? S.O'Dair
PART III: KNOWLEDGE
Framing Theory; R.Eaglestone
Impractical Criticism; M.Robson
The End of Difference; M.Currie
The Pedagogy of Historicism; S.Dentith
In Defence of Gradgrind; J.Bate
Index
PHILIP W. MARTIN is Professor of Literature and Dean of Humanities at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. He is the author of Byron: A Poet before his Public (1982), Mad Women in Romantic Writing (1987) and co-editor (with Robin Jarvis) of Reviewing Romanticism (1992), and articles in books and journals on Romanticism. He is an editor of the journal, Literature and History, and has worked at a number of different universities in the UK.
Description
This is a book about English in Universities today. It is not a book about theory, nor pedagogy, nor history, although it touches on all of those things as it confronts, reports on and debates English in its many and various contexts in the UK, in mainland Europe, in the US, Canada, and South Africa. It is designed for those who teach English language and literature as well as those who are students of the subject.
English is one of the most widely taught university subjects in the world. What has happened to the subject in the last ten years or more following the advent of theory and the further expansion of student numbers? How do its lecturers now regard their discipline? What do they believe should be taught, and how? What are the political contexts of English? This book raises such questions alongside many others as its contributors debate, describe, analyse or advocate English at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Reviews
'It is a while since the subject took a long, hard look at itself and so Philip Martin's book is an invaluable and timely intervention into discussions about the position and direction of the discipline at a moment when English Studies is still deliberating ways forward after the theory wars. This stimulating collection of wide-ranging essays reveals once more the subject's diversity while registering a thoughtful anxiety over threats from without as much as undertaking a renewed scrutiny of differences of opinion within.' - Professor Peter Childs, Dean of Research, University of Gloucestershire, UK
Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: The Condition of the Subject; P.W.Martin
PART I: ENGLISH IN THE PLURAL
Only One Subject? Englishness in Continental Europe; M.Kayman
Common Speech, Uncommon Discourse: Whose English is English?; R.Carter
In Search of the Subject: English in the New South Africa; N.Distiller
The Condition of Indian Writing in English Today; R.Krishnaswamy
Twin-share Accommodation: English and Creative Writing; G.Harper
PART II: CURRICULA
English Studies and the Life of the Mind; C.Hamilton
English after Anti-Humanism; A.Mousley
Deskilling English: Theory, Cynicism and Ethics; L.Steven
Firm Foundations? The Condition of English at A level; C.Atherton
Defending the Canon; G.Day
Class Work: Site of Egalitarian Activism or Site of Embourgeoisment? S.O'Dair
PART III: KNOWLEDGE
Framing Theory; R.Eaglestone
Impractical Criticism; M.Robson
The End of Difference; M.Currie
The Pedagogy of Historicism; S.Dentith
In Defence of Gradgrind; J.Bate
Index
Authors
PHILIP W. MARTIN is Professor of Literature and Dean of Humanities at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. He is the author of Byron: A Poet before his Public (1982), Mad Women in Romantic Writing (1987) and co-editor (with Robin Jarvis) of Reviewing Romanticism (1992), and articles in books and journals on Romanticism. He is an editor of the journal, Literature and History, and has worked at a number of different universities in the UK.
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