Description
Reflecting varieties of theory and practice in both verse and prose from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century, these essays by many of America's leading literary scholars call for a reinvigorated formalism that can enrich literary studies, open productive routes of commerce with cultural studies, and propel cultural theory out of its thematic ruts.This book reprints Modern Language Quarterly's highly acclaimed special issue Reading for Form, along with new essays by Marjorie Perloff, D. Vance Smith, and Susan Stewart, and a revised introduction by Susan Wolfson. With historical case studies and insightful explorations, Reading for Form offers invaluable material for literary critics in all specializations.
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Formalism has always been a part of the weft of literary studies, and it shows no signs of being cast aside now. In this collection of survey articles and critiques contributors with a range of theoretical frameworks and areas of study call for a reinvigorated formalism that can open productive lines of communication with cultural studies and recharge cultural theory. Contributors introduce readers to formalism and its role in producing rigorous and satisfying literary studies, describe hating and loving aesthetic formalism; some papers examine the logic of medieval forma, and find diverse aspects of formalism within the country house poem, Paradise Lost, the anglophone couplet, postcolonial works and the now-unknown book, while others explore the work of Zukofsky, Celan, Moriarty, and Austen. Three of the papers are new; the others were originally published in 2000 as a special edition of the Modern Language Quarterly. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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