Does Attention to Language Matter Anymore?

In recent years, the attention to language as a key to understanding culture, power, and symbolic construction has diminished as the study of literature has lost its privileged place in English and language studies. With this change, the field has shifted its focus away from the study of textual qualities, reducing the emphasis on close readings of texts and lowering the ideological commitment to language as access to cultural and political power. Contributors to this special issue examine the developments, values, and consequences of these changes.

Contributors: Jonathan Arac, Tanil Bora, Paul A. Bové, Joe Cleary, Howard Eiland, Susan Gillespie, David Golumbia, Marc Nichanian, Jeffrey Sacks, Andrew Warren, Lindsay Waters