Kirjahaku

Widely considered the standard history of the profession of literary studies, "Professing Literature" unearths the long-forgotten ideas and debates that created the literature department as we know it today. In a readable and often-amusing narrative, Gerald Graff shows that the heated conflicts of our recent culture wars echo - and often recycle - controversies over how literature should be taught that began more than a century ago. Updated with a new preface by the author that addresses many of the provocative arguments raised by its initial publication, "Professing Literature" remains an essential history of literary pedagogy and a critical classic.

Higher education should by a battleground of ideas: the real problem, Gerald Graff says, is that students are not getting more out of the battle. In this lively book, Graff argues that the "culture wars" now being fought over multiculturalism and political correctness are actually a sign of the intellectual vitality of American education—but they need to be used creatively, made part of the educational process itself.