Wordsworth, Dialogics and the Practice of Criticism

In recent decades, Wordsworth's poetry has become a point of focus for a great many of the proliferating schools of criticism and theoretical paradigms that dominate modern literary studies. Don Bialostosky here addresses the problem that the multiplicity of criticism has outrun the capacity to respond to it, often leaving teaching practices behind in their reflection of older models of literary study. Bialostosky's method draws on the work of Bakhtin and his followers to create a "dialogic" critical synthesis of what Wordsworth's readers--from Coleridge to de Man--have made of his poetry. He reveals an understanding of Wordsworth's poetry as itself "dialogically" responding to its various contexts, and opens up fruitful possibilities for current criticism and teaching of Wordsworth. This challenging book uses the case of Wordsworth studies to make a far-reaching survey of modern literary theory and its implications for the practice of criticism and teaching today.

Reviews & endorsements

"This is a big book in all senses except perhaps the literal one; it reaches backward to Romanticism, forward to contemporary critical and pedagogical practices, and laterally to different moments, different physical locations, and different poems. It should, then, be a book that makes a difference--in how we read ourselves reading Wordsworth, literature, and the practicers of our profession." Studies in English Literature

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Product details

• Date Published: May 2008
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9780521061988
• length: 320 pages

• dimensions: 217 x 139 x 18 mm
• weight: 0.41kg
• availability: Available