The Birth and Death of Literary Theory: Regimes of Relevance in Russia and Beyond

Galin Tihanov

Published by Stanford University Press 2019

The Birth and Death of Literary Theory

Regimes of Relevance in Russia and Beyond

Galin Tihanov

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503609730

Overview
Contents

About this book

A comprehensive account of all major trends in Russian interwar literary theory and its wider impact in our post-deconstruction and world literature era, this book attempts to answer two fundamental questions: What does it mean to think about literature theoretically, and what happens to literary theory when it is no longer available as an option?

Author / Editor information

Galin Tihanov is the George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature at Queen Mary University of London.

Reviews

Galina Babak:
"Tihanov's journey across past intellectual landscapes is engaging and helpful: it allows us to understand a great deal about the past, the present, and ourselves in that present."

Ken Hirschkop:
"If literary theory is your thing, and you're feeling uninspired by what the Anglo-American academy has to offer, The Birth and Death is a fine showcase for what is, in effect, another world of literary theory, largely untapped."

Caryl Emerson:
"[One] senses that Tihanov, whose own intellectual range is staggering, could have chosen any number of examples to demonstrate his thesis....[A] rich and generous book."

Daiana Gârdan:
"There are few literary critics and theorists that delve into the afterlives of past theories and theoretical trends as dazzlingly and lucidly as Galin Tihanov does."

Michael Wachtel:
"Eloquent and erudite, Galin Tihanov offers us a magisterial account of twentieth-century Russian literary theory. His book is not a survey but a careful analysis of diverse movements and theorists whose unexpected juxtapositions put familiar concepts and people in an entirely new light. This is intellectual history at its best."

Eli Park Sorensen:
"Tihanov has written an excellent book that provides a plethora of substance for reflection, and most importantly reminds us of the time when literature and the study of literature was taken seriously to an extent that to most readers today seems like an act of defamiliarization in itself."

Haun Saussy:
"Up to now, no one has woven together the many threads of Russian literary thought—Formalism, Socialist Realism, Marxism, the Bakhtin Circle, and the many groups, domestic and émigré, that shaped modern theory. With a large cast of characters and a sharp, cumulative argument, Tihanov renders obsolete numerous received judgments about theory's origins and impact."

Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht:
"The foundational status of literary theory in twentieth-century Russia has never been described with greater attention to detail than in Galin Tihanov's new book. And this extraordinary historical groundwork results in the ultimate challenge for literary criticism today: can and should the discipline survive under epistemological conditions that are now so radically different?"

William Mills Todd III:
"Committed both to rigorous historical contextualization and to the clear analysis of ideas, Tihanov's highly original book addresses a topic of major concern to the humanities, the rise of literary theory, showing the central contribution of Russian thinkers to it. This is the first book one should read on its subject."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Prologue: What This Book Is and Is Not About Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Introduction: The Radical Historicity of Literary Theory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
1. Russian Formalism: Entanglements at Birth and Later Reverberations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
2. A Skeptic at the Cradle of Theory: Gustav Shpet’s Reflections on Literature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
3. Toward a Philosophy of Culture: Bakhtin beyond Literary Theory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
4. The Boundaries of Modernity: Semantic Paleontology and Its Subterranean Impact Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
5. Interwar Exiles: Regimes of Relevance in Émigré Criticism and Theory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
Epilogue: A Fast-Forward to “World Literature” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 272
Keywords: Literary Theory; Intellectual History; World Literature; Regimes of Relevance; Exile; Canon Formation; Aesthetics; Russian Formalism; Mikhail Bakhtin; Semantic Paleontology

eBook

Published: July 30, 2019
ISBN: 9781503609730