Does Literary Studies Have A Future

As we approach the end of a millennium, the battle for the fate of literary scholarship has taken on near apocalyptic overtones, with more than a few predictions of the imminent end of literary studies as we know it. Taking aim at culture warriors on the left and the right, Goodheart provides a succinct and timely assessment of the current state and future of literary studies in the US. In Goodheart's view, the opposition between tradition (the cause of the right) and innovation (the cause of the left) is essentially false : tradition is an interactive history between the given and the innovative, not an inert set of values or a stable canon of approved texts. (Midwest).