Post-structuralism and the question of history /

This collection of previously unpublished essays answers the charge that poststructuralist and deconstructionist literary theory ignores history. The anthology is structured as a response to the critiques of deconstructive literary criticism by Frank Lentricchia (After the New Criticism, CH, Dec '80), Terry Eagleton (Literary Theory, CH, Feb '84), Fredric Jameson (The Political Unconscious, CH, Jun '81) and Perry Anderson (In the Tracks of Historical Materialism, CH, Nov '84). The editors have chosen essays that try to demonstrate that the ``post'' of poststructuralism does not simply indicate what came after structuralism but instead marks the reintroduction of history into critical theory. Focusing primarily on the works of Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard, Deleuze, and Guattari, the essays by the editors and such notables as G. Spivak, J. Culler, R. Gasche, J-F. Lyotard, and others explore both literary (Pound, Milton) and nonliterary (Marx, Hegel, Kant, Foucault, Derrida, Saussure, Baumgarten) texts. The anthology succeeds both in raising several important issues for philosophers, historians, and literary critics concerned with the relation between Marxism and poststructuralism and in demonstrating the utility of applying poststructuralist interpretive strategies to historical and political documents. Many of the essays are difficult, but will repay close attention. Highly recommended for graduate and undergraduate libraries.-A.D. Schrift, Grinnell College