[PDF] Left Politics and the Literary Profession

In the early 1970’s, the political insights and activism of the New Left began to be integrated into the practice of literary criticism. That practice had a profound influence on the way that literature subsequently was conceptualized and taught. Twenty years later, the editors of Left Politics and the Literary Profession, Lennard J. Davis and M. Bella Mirabella, have assembled a group of essays to detail the history of those changes, assess the direction of left literary studies, and point toward future goals especially now during a time of international political transformation of the Left.

Among the contributors to Left Politics and the Literary Profession are Gerald Graff, Richard Ohmann, Catharine R. Stimpson, Louis Kampf, Paul Lauter, Barbara Harlowe, Nellie McKay, and other well-known scholars. The editors have included leftist, feminist, lesbian, African-American, Chicano, Palestinian and other literary criticism. While contributing to the ongoing debate about literary theory, Left Politics and the Literary Profession comes out of a tradition of political activism. The essays combine both theory and praxis, addressing numerous issues of practical politics and pedagogy. These viewpoints provide an important and illuminating link between the radical politics of the sixties and the intellectual activities of radicals who study literature now, or will study it in the future.