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"Gallop is our foremost comic theorist. Anecdotal theory, as she observes, is theory with a better sense of humor. Gallop shows us how to be smart and rigorous precisely by "refusing" to 'get serious, ' explaining how that imperative in fact makes literary critics relinquish what we do best. Lightening up without in any way producing theory 'lite': this is one formulation of Gallop's goal and considerable accomplishment, both here and throughout her career."--Joseph Litvak, author of "Strange Gourmets: Sophistication, Theory, and the Novel"
List of contents
About the author
Jane Gallop is Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She is the author of numerous books including Around 1981: Academic Feminist Literary Theory, Thinking through the Body, and Feminist Accused of Sexual Harassment, published by Duke University Press.
Summary
Anecdote and 'theory' have diametrically opposed connotations: humorous versus serious, specific versus general, trivial versus overarching, and short versus grand. This work addresses major questions of feminist theory. It explains that for the practice of anecdotal theory derives from the lineages of psychoanalysis, deconstruction, and feminism.
