Abstract
‘The separation of philosophy from literary studies has not worked to the benefit of either.’ An uncontentious statement, surely, and perhaps even a disarming or conciliatory one. Who, after all, would think that segregating literature from philosophy could do anything but delimit and restrict both? And yet, within its original context, this statement formed part of a controversy that would rage for many years. It is taken from the introduction to Deconstruction and Criticism (Hartman, p. ix), a manifesto heralding the arrival and ascendancy of deconstructive thought in America, which featured contributions from all the leading ‘Yale School’ critics (Paul de Man, J. Hillis Miller, Geoffrey Hartman, and Harold Bloom), and from Jacques Derrida himself. Its publication marked the opening salvo in some of the most notorious debates in the so-called ‘theory wars’ of the 1980s.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Works cited
Benjamin, Andrew, Philosophy’s Literature (Manchester: Clinamen Press, 2001).
Bowie, Andrew, From Romanticism to Critical Theory: The Philosophy of German Literary Theory (London: Routledge, 1997).
Cascardi, Anthony J. (ed.), Literature and the Question of Philosophy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987).
Cavell, Stanley, Philosophical Passages: Wittgenstein, Emerson, Austin, Derrida (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995).
Cunningham, Valentine, Reading After Theory (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002).
Dasenbrock, Reed Way (ed.), Redrawing the Lines: Analytic Philosophy, Deconstruction, and Literary Theory (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989).
De Man, Paul, The Resistance to Theory, foreword by Wlad Godzich (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986).
Derrida, Jacques, Limited Inc (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1988).
Docherty, Thomas, After Theory (2nd ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1996).
Eaglestone, Robert, Ethical Criticism: Reading After Levinas (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1997).
Eagleton, Terry, After Theory (New York: Basic Books, 2003).
Griffiths, A. Phillips (ed.), Philosophy and Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
Hartman, Geoffrey, ‘Preface’ to Deconstruction and Criticism, ed. Harold Bloom (London: Routledge, 1979).
John, Eileen and Dominic McIver Lopes (eds), Philosophy of Literature — Contemporary and Classic Readings: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004).
Joughin, John and Simon Malpas (eds), The New Aestheticism (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003).
Kavanagh, Thomas M. (ed.), The Limits of Theory (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989).
McQuillan, Martin, Robin Purves, Graeme MacDonald, and Stephen Thomson (eds), Post-Theory: New Directions in Criticism (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999).
Mitchell, W.J.T. (ed.), Against Theory: Literary Studies and the New Pragmatism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985).
New, Christopher, Philosophy of Literature: An Introduction (London: Routledge, 1999).
Parrinder, Patrick, The Failure of Theory: Contemporary English Criticism and Fiction (Brighton: Harvester, 1987).
Payne, Michael and John Schad (eds), Life After Theory (London: Continuum, 2003).
Rée, Jonathan, Philosophical Tales: An Essay on Philosophy and Literature (London: Methuen, 1987).
Skilleas, Ole Martin, Philosophy and Literature: An Introduction (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2001).
Wheeler, Samuel C., Deconstruction as Analytic Philosophy (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000).
Zima, Petr, The Philosophy of Modern Literary Theory (London: Athlone Press, 1999).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2006 David Rudrum
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rudrum, D. (2006). Introduction — Literature and Philosophy: The Contemporary Interface. In: Rudrum, D. (eds) Literature and Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230598621_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230598621_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-52465-5
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-59862-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)