Theory's other: reintegrating the new pragmatism into literary studies

Abstract

The reasons for cherishing a particular academic text of one’s own making are usually connected with its value and role as a crowning achievement of one’s intellectual efforts. In my case, however, the essay reprinted below was more of a new begining than a terminus of an arduous journey. Above all else, it marked a momentous shift in my perspective on my professional commitments and priorities. Thereby, it carried significant personal and emotional overtones as well. Today I see it as a blueprint for what turned out to be an absorbing research interest which has continued to inspire and sustain me in my academic peregrinations ever since. Written in 2002, “Theory’s Other” was the first attempt to define my position on the New Pragmatism in literary studies. As such, it laid the foundations for what was to become a booklength project completed in collaboration with several prominent American scholars including Stanley Fish, Walter Benn Michaels and Gerald Graff. Subsequently, selected sections of this essay were incorporated into my 2007 book titled Disciplining the New Pragmatism: Theory, Rhetoric, and the Ends of Literary Study.