Employment of English. Michael Berube

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       THE EMPLOYMENT OF ENGLISH

       CULTURAL FRONT

       GENERAL EDITOR: MICHAEL BEŔUBÉ

       MANIFESTO OF A TENURED RADICAL BY GARY NELSON

       BAD SUBJECTS: POLITICAL EDUCATION FOR EVERYDAY LIFE EDITED BY THE BAD SUBJECTS PRODUCTION TEAM

       CLAIMING DISABILITY: KNOWLEDGE AND IDENTITY BY SIMI LINTON

       THE EMPLOYMENT OF ENGLISH: THEORY, JOBS, AND THE FUTURE OF LITERARY STUDIES BY MICHAEL BEŔUBÉ

       THE EMPLOYMENT OF ENGLISH

      THEORY, JOBS, AND THE FUTURE OF LITERARY STUDIES

       MICHAEL BÉRUBÉ

      NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

       New York and London

      © 1998 by New York University

       All rights reserved

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

       Bérubé, Michael, 1961–

      The employment of English : theory, jobs, and the future of

       literary studies / by Michael Bérubé.

       p. cm.—(Cultural front)

       Includes bibliographical references and index.

       ISBN 0-8147-1300-9 (pbk. : acid-free paper).—ISBN

       0-8147-1301-7 (pbk.: acid-free paper)

      1. English philology—Study and teaching (Higher)—Political

      aspects—UnitedStates. 2. English literature—History and

      criticism—Theory, etc. 3. English language—Political aspects—

      United States. 4. English teachers—Employment—United States.

      5. Interdisciplinary approach in education. 6. English philology—

      Vocational guidance. 7. Languageand culture—United States.

      I. Title. II. Series: Cultural front (Series)

      PE68.U5B481988

      820′.71′173—dc21 97-21213

       CIP

      New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,

       and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

       CONTENTS

       PREFACE

       I EMPLOYMENT IN ENGLISH

       1. CULTURAL STUDIES AND CULTURALCAPITAL

       2. THE BLESSED OF THE EARTH

       3. PROFESSIONAL OBLIGATIONS AND ACADEMIC STANDARDS

       4. PEER PRESSURE POLITICAL TENSIONS IN THE BEAR MARKET

       5. STRAIGHT OUTTA NORMAL NONPROFIT FICTION PUBLISHING ON THE MARGINS

       II EMPLOYING ENGLISH

       6. ENGLISH FOR EMPLOYMENT

       7. PROFESSIONAL ADVOCATES WHEN IS “ADVOCACY” PART OF ONE’S VOCATION?

       8. FREE SPEECH AND DISCIPLINE THE BOUNDARIES OF THE MULTIVERSITY Michael Bérubé and Janet Lyon

       9. EXTREME PREJUDICE THE COARSENING OF AMERICAN CONSERVATISM

       10. CULTURAL CRITICISM AND THE POLITICS OF SELLING OUT

       WORKS CITED

       INDEX

       ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PREFACE

      I love literature. I really do. And however much it might shock my colleagues, I believe that some books are better than others, too. Yet this belief of mine complicates my love: I like some books and some writers a great deal, whereas there are other books and other writers I do’t care for at all. So now that I think of it, I guess it makes about as much sense to say “I love literature” as to say “I’m fond of food.” It looks as if I’m going to have to start this preface all over again, this time from a coherent premise.

      Then again, perhaps the incoherence of the premise should be my premise: how has it come to pass that in the profession of academic literary study, professors of English can publicly profess their love of “literature” (all of it, presumably) as if they were saying something meaningful? And loving literature as they do, renowned critics renounce criticism: some complain that academic criticism is too esoteric; some complain that contemporary academic criticism is too politicized; some complain that any kind of criticism inevitably positions itself as “superior” to its object, and is suspect on that basis alone. English departments throw themselves (and the very nation) into turmoil over whether to introduce a required “theory” course for graduate students—or whether to jettison the Chaucer-Milton-Shakespeare requirement for undergraduates. Conferences, colloquia, careers are devoted to asking whether literary criticism can have any productive political role in the world; conferences, colloquia, careers are devoted to asking whether literary criticism loves literature. Traditional