Reading Theory Now: An ABC of Good Reading with J. Hillis Miller annotated edition
Author(s): Eamonn Dunne (Author)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication Date: 15 Aug. 2013
Edition: annotated edition
Language: English
Print length: 144 pages
ISBN-10: 1441174583
ISBN-13: 9781441174581
Book Description
The ABC of Good Reading explores movements in critical thinking through a host of radical theorists, and to channel those movements through the work of one of the most influential proponents of critical interpretation in the world today, J. Hillis Miller. It enables its readers to see how and why theoretical models of reading are of use only in the practical event of reading literary and philosophical texts, that the politics and poetics of interpretive paradigms are constantly shifting, changing and evolving as present day perspectives transform those traditions unalterably. it seeks to invite its readers to challenge the concept of the paradigm, the school, the movement, even the sequence, by presenting them with a choice to read in their own way, to ‘dip’ in and out of singular events of interpretation from A to Z. In this respect The ABC of Good Reading invites its audience to decide for him/herself where they begin and end their own critical analyses. The ABC of Good Reading also contains: *A Preface by J. Hillis Miller which comments on the significance of reading as an event and the centrality of political and ecological issues in his most recent work.
*An Afterword by Julian Wolfreys which tackles these issues in Miller’s latest books. *A select annotated bibliography which will help students coming to Miller’s work for the first time to find their own way into his vast critical corpus.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘It would not be unfair to say that Eamonn Dunne knows Hillis Miller better than the eminent critic and literary theorist knows himself. This is another invaluable addition to the secondary literature on Miller. With it Dunne reminds us of the essential nature of Miller’s writing for the study of literature today. Reading Reading Theory Now I am persuaded by Dunne that Miller remains our most vital and remarkable thinker of literature; without a familiarity with Miller any training in reading literature would be incomplete. Perhaps, it is where that training should begin. Dunne has rendered us all a great service once more.’ — Martin McQuillan, Professor Of Literary Theory And Cultural Analysis, Dean Of The Faculty Of Arts And Social Sciences, Kingston University, London, UK
‘Good, good – this is so good a reading of good reading, an alphabetical living out of the good life that is reading. This life has just got better, stranger, strange as ABC.’ —
John Schad, Professor Of Modern Literature And Head Of Department, Department Of English And Creative Writing, University Of Lancaster, UK
About the Author
Dr Éamonn Dunne is a teacher of English at Coláiste Chraobh Abhann school in Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. He is the author of J. Hillis Miller and the Possibilities of Reading: Literature after Deconstruction (2010) and has research interests in pedagogy, popular culture, queer theory and narratology. He is currently co-writing a third book on queer theory and literature with Michael O’Rourke.
J. Hillis Miller is one of the leading American literary critics of the past half-century. Together with Paul de Man, Harold Bloom, and Geoffrey Hartman he was part of ‘The Yale School’ of deconstruction, which heavily influenced and popularized deconstruction in contemporary literary criticism. He is currently Distinguished Research Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California Irvine, USA.
Julian Wolfreys is a Professor of Modern Literature and Culture with the Department of English and Drama at Loughborough University, UK. The author and editor of numerous books and articles, his most recent publications are Writing London III: Inventions of the City (Palgrave) and Transgression: Identity, Place, Time (Palgrave).