This book is the first collection of unified interviews with the great
figures of the golden age of American celebrity literary and cultural
critics. While many of these celebrity critics have been interviewed
elsewhere, this collection is different. The 18 critics interviewed here
are all asked the same questions, whereas usually interviews are
one-offs, each one unique and incomparable. By contrast this collection
shows that theorists, when commenting on the same issues, actually range
widely and express a remarkable diversity of opinions.
The book also presents a vivid portrayal of the ways in which literary
theory affected the lives of these individuals. All 18 people
interviewed lived what might be called, without exaggeration, a life of
theory. Their work and lives were jostled by seismic dislocations. New
criticism was overwhelmed by postmodernism, deconstruction reigned and
then succumbed to new historicism and the politics and criticism of
identity. Race and gender burgeoned as fundamental topics. Critics and
scholars experiences these ruptures differently and reacted in different
ways. This book of interviews offers 18 exemplary instances. Instead of
the unity they are often assumed to have, these figures reveal how
incredibly diverse they actually were.
Finally, the collection offers a coherent summation of this richly
turbulent and intellectually powerful era. The introduction to the
volume and the brilliant afterword by Professor Heather Love offer
cogent assessment of this remarkably varied era of American intellectual
life. They make sense of a disruptive and puzzling past. The book
includes 23 illustrations highlighting some of the key points and
themes.
