Book 4

In this collection of essays in current analytical philosophy, the unifying theme is a general concern with the uses of theory and the way that certain "advanced" forms of literary-critical theory have been extended to other disciplines - often, the author argues, with undesirable results. The essays cover a wide range of topics from Shakespeare and Pope to musical criticism, the philosophical bearings of deconstruction and the politics of current neo-pragmatist thinking. The work represents both a statement of the author's own views on the future of critical theory and an interpretation of the thinking of prominent theorists such as Derrida, de Man and Davidson. First published as a Pinter hardback in 1988, the work is now available as an LUP paperback.