Critical Confrontations; Literary Theories in Dialogue by Meili Steele (review)

Book Reviews and men. In a "Foreword," Sandra Bartky points out that including the essays by women gives "the collection as a whole a dialogic quality" and also shows that "there is important, even compelling, work that women can do in theorizing the increasing participation by men in feminist change" (xiv). The fourteen male authors include those who self-identify as heterosexual, homosexual, or transsexual, white or black. All contributors except one are identified as currently teaching in American universities (and one in Canada). Eleven teach in Philosophy departments , and one of the interests in the reading is observing stylistic differences between writing in that discipline compared with, say, literary criticism. (The philosophers here tend to organize essays as though developing their thought processes in considerable logical detail, complete with introductions that summarize the material at length and conclusions that re-summarize.) Many ofthe eighteen essays are made more lively and convincing by inclusion ofautobiographical experiences . Editor Tom Digby, who teaches philosophy and feminist theory, states in his "Introduction" that "I still consider feminism to be the most important defining characteristic ofmy philosophical and personal life" (5) after tracing various personal experiences that contributed to his understanding that "sexism damages men themselves" (5) as well as women and society as a whole. Several other writers also address the origins of their feminist development; my favorite is Thomas E. Wartenberg's comment in "Teaching Women Philosophy (as a Feminist Man)": "through the influence ofa number ofmy friends and colleagues, I had been reading feminist literature ofvarious sorts since the early 1970s. (I think that the first feminist text ofany significance that I read was Doris Lessing's 77>i? Golden Notebook .) I thought that feminism had important things to tell all ofus, both in personal and intellectual terms" (132). The reading of feminist literature by anyone always strikes me as hopeful, to paraphrase Sandra Bartky's words in her "Foreward." She concludes her comments on this collection ofessays by writers struggling toward a more just social order by saying: "Men Doing Feminism gives me hope" (xiv). rfe Meili Steele. Critical Confrontations; Literary Theories in Dialogue. Lexington: The University of Kentucky Press, 1997. 152p. Bernice Harris Lewts Clark State College In CriticalConfrontations; Literary Theories in Dialogue, author Meili Steele is clear about his goals: "My hope for this book is that the reader will emerge with an FALL 1998 * ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW * 107 understanding ofwhat the major interpretive problematics are, what the challenges to these positions have been, what the strengths and weaknesses ofthese different theories are, and how these theories can dialogue with each other to meet our current demands for democratic interpretation" (2). Steele is ambitions, but his book generally succeeds. Indeed, he is justifiably hopeful that this book can "serve an important pedagogical function" (1) as an "introduction to theory" text. However , although Steele claims that "the book does not assume a prior knowledge of theory" (4), it should be used by students who already want to know about theory and who already have some familiarity with the theorists mentioned. The dialogue format, where approaches are compared with each other and where they can ask questions ofeach other, provides a context for the differing approaches and a useful mechanism for articulating either ideological or functional consequences of some ofthese approaches. Also, the discussion often includes application to specific primary texts, either by Steele himselfor by a theorist he is discussing. For example, Steele uses Susan Glaspell's short play, "AJury ofHer Peers," and he cites Edward Said's use ofJane Austen's Mansfield Park. Using the hermeneutic circle as a model, Steele offers a "progressive structure" (4) that builds on what comes before, advances, and then circles back in an attempt to provide a general understanding of the current discourse of literary theory. This approach is successful, primarily because ofthe clarity of the discussions. Steele begins with an introduction to what some theoretical sensationalists refer to as a crisis: a conflict between what Steele calls "the postructuralist camp" and "a tradition-based view of language" (1). Discomfort about reducing theoretical discourse to a synthetic bipolar argument is quickly dispelled, however, as Steele embarks on a complex "metatheoretical story" to...