An Era of Literary Criticism Without Cause

Geoffrey Galt Harpham, professor of English at Tulane University, in the August 17-23 issue of The Times Literary Supplement

Ambitious without direction or specific goals, uncertain of its position in the larger culture, unsure of its basic terms -- including "theory," "criticism," and even "literature" -- the profession of literary criticism finds itself in a kind of trough. After a generation of theoretical and institutional battles, the polemical edge of literary