Seductive Reasoning: Pluralism as the Problematic of Contemporary Literary Theory

Rooney, Ellen

ISBN 10: 0801421926 / ISBN 13: 9780801421921

Published by Cornell University Press, 1989

About this Item

Seller Inventory # ABLIING23Feb2416190189645

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Seductive Reasoning: Pluralism as the Problematic of Contemporary Literary Theory
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication Date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801421926
• ISBN 13: 9780801421921
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Seductive Reasoning takes a provocative look at contemporary Anglo-American literary theory, calling into question the critical consensus on pluralism's nature and its status in literary studies. Drawing on the insights of Marxist and feminist critical theory and on the works of Althusser, Derrida, and Foucault, Rooney reads the pluralist's invitation to join in a "dialogue" as a seductive gesture. Critics who respond find that they must seek to persuade all of their potential readers. Rooney examines pluralism as a form of logic in the work of E. D. Hirsch, as a form of ethics for Wayne Booth, as a rhetoric of persuasion in the books of Stanley Fish. For Paul de Man, Rooney argues, pluralism was a rhetoric of tropes just as it was, for Fredric Jameson, a form of politics.

About the Author

Ellen Rooney is Professor of Modern Culture and Media and English at Brown University. She is coeditor of differences: a journal of feminist cultural studies and associate editor of Novel: A Forum on Fiction.