Living With Theory

In a clear and readable style, Living with Theory maps out contemporary theory, tracing its complex configurations, its political preoccupations, and its relations with literature.

Argues that the field of theory in late postmodern consumer society has become overburdened with new ideas, and that there is an essential need for guides and signposts in this complex field
Maps out contemporary theory, tracing its complex configurations, its political preoccupations, and its relations with literature
Explores the engagement of theory with such phenomena as globalization and postmodernism, multiculturalism and cultural wars, plus the rise of neoliberalism and the corporate university
Highlights the current reconfiguration of critical reading and its potential future

Vincent B. Leitch holds the Paul and Carol Daube Sutton Chair in English at the University of Oklahoma, where he teaches criticism and theory. He is author of numerous books on critical theory, and is the general editor of the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.

Preface.

Part I: Theory.

1. Theory Ends.

2. Teaching Theory Now.

3. Applied Theory.

4. Theory Fusions.

Part II: Politics.

5. Late Derrida.

6. The Politics of Academic Labor.

Part III: Literature.

7. Late Contemporary U.S. Poetry.

8. Globalization of Literatures.

Notes.

Index