In this Book
- How to Be an Intellectual: Essays on Criticism, Culture, and the University
- Book
- 2014
- Published by: Fordham University Press
summary
Over the past decade, Jeffrey J. Williams has been one of the most perceptive observers of contemporary literary and cultural studies. He has also been a shrewd analyst of the state of American higher education. How to Be an Intellectual brings together noted and new essays, and exemplifies Williams’s effort to bring criticism to a wider public. _x000B__x000B_How to Be an Intellectual profiles a number of critics, drawing on a unique series of interviews that give an inside look at their work and careers. The book often looks at critical thought from surprising angles, examining, for instance, the history of modern American criticism in terms of its keywords as they morphed from sound to rigorous to smart. It also puts in plain language the political travesty of higher education policies that produce student debt, which, as Williams demonstrates, all too readily follow the model of colonial indenture, not just as a metaphor but in actual point of fact._x000B__x000B_How to Be an Intellectual tells a story of intellectual life since the culture wars. Shedding academic obscurity and calling for a better critical writing, it reflects on what makes the critic and intellectual—the accidents of careers, the trends in thought, the institutions that shape us, and politics. It also includes personal views of living and working with books. _x000B_
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- pp. vii-x
- Part 1: The Politics of Criticism
- 3. The Rise of the Theory Journal
- pp. 31-36
- 4. How Critics Became Smart
- pp. 37-41
- 5. Publicist Intellectuals
- pp. 42-44
- 6. The Ubiquity of Culture
- pp. 45-56
- Part 2: Profiles in Criticism
- 11. Bellwether: J. Hillis Miller
- pp. 77-81
- 16. The Editor as Broker: Gordon Hutner
- pp. 104-108
- 17. Gaga Feminism: Judith “Jack” Halberstam
- pp. 109-114
- 18. Book Angst
- pp. 115-118
- Part 3: The Predicament of the University
- 19. The Pedagogy of Debt
- pp. 121-133
- 20. Student Debt and the Spirit of Indenture
- pp. 134-142
- 21. The Academic Devolution
- pp. 143-150
- 22. The Neoliberal Bias of Higher Education
- pp. 151-157
- 23. The University on Film
- pp. 158-161
- 24. The Thrill Is Gone
- pp. 162-166
- 25. Unlucky Jim
- pp. 167-174
- 26. Academic Opportunities Unlimited
- pp. 175-178
- Part 4: The Personal and the Critical
- 27. The Pedagogy of Prison
- pp. 181-187
- 28. Shelf Life
- pp. 188-193
- 29. Teacher: Remembering Michael Sprinker
- pp. 194-200
- 30. My Life as Editor
- pp. 201-205
- 31. Other People’s Words
- pp. 206-209
- 32. Long Island Intellectual
- pp. 210-216
Additional Information
ISBN
9780823263844
Related ISBN(s)
9780823263806
MARC Record
OCLC
890507515
Pages
232
Launched on MUSE
2014-09-12
Language
English
Open Access
No