Theory That Matters: What Practice After Theory

"Covering an impressive scope of subjects in literary and cultural theory, from Freud, Heidegger and Barthes to Fish, Rorty and Bhabha, Theory That Matters offers a welcome up-to-date assessment of the state of the discipline. Such a recapitulation serves as a point of departure for the examinations of the new practices across the arts and media and of the innovative interpretative tools suggested by these practices. The contributors take their examples from an amazing variety of contexts and thus prove that the very dynamics of theory is a fascinating phenomenon. Succeeding several recent anthologies that have cast doubt on the aims of theory, the present volume launches its defence and, at the same time, demonstrates that this is not to be achieved at the expense of praxis. The book clearly shows that theory owes its currency to its multiple functions, among others, as a procedure of interpretation, a vehicle for philosophical reflection, and a formulation of an ideological stance."– Marek Paryz, Associate Professor, Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw; Editor of the Polish Journal for American Studies

About the Author :
Kacper Bartczak is an Associate Professor of American Literature at the University of Łódź. He was a Research Fulbright Fellow at Stanford University (2001), a Kościuszko Foundation Fellow at Florida Atlantic University (2008), and a Fulbright Visiting Faculty at Princeton University (2010–11). He is the author of In Search of Communication and Community: The Poetry of John Ashbery (Peter Lang, 2006) and Świat nie scalony (Biuro Literackie, 2009). He is also a poet in Polish and a poetry translator.Malgorzata Myk is an Assistant Professor at the Department of American Literature and Culture, Lódz University, Poland. Her recent publications include articles on Virginia Woolf, Italo Calvino, Ingmar Bergman, Nicole Brossard, Joanna Russ, as well as innovative American women writers. Her main areas of research are experimental women's writing in the US and Canada, women's and gender studies, affect studies, and critical theory.

Review :
"Covering an impressive scope of subjects in literary and cultural theory, from Freud, Heidegger and Barthes to Fish, Rorty and Bhabha, Theory That Matters offers a welcome up-to-date assessment of the state of the discipline. Such a recapitulation serves as a point of departure for the examinations of the new practices across the arts and media and of the innovative interpretative tools suggested by these practices. The contributors take their examples from an amazing variety of contexts and thus prove that the very dynamics of theory is a fascinating phenomenon. Succeeding several recent anthologies that have cast doubt on the aims of theory, the present volume launches its defence and, at the same time, demonstrates that this is not to be achieved at the expense of praxis. The book clearly shows that theory owes its currency to its multiple functions, among others, as a procedure of interpretation, a vehicle for philosophical reflection, and a formulation of an ideological stance." - Marek Paryz, Associate Professor, Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw; Editor of the Polish Journal for American Studies