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Cited by 1,709Literary Theory and Cultural HermeneuticsHermeneutics and Narrative IdentityContemporary Literature and Criticism

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The Limits of Critique

Felski, Rita·2015·University of Chicago Press eBooks
DOI 10.7208/chicago/9780226294179.001.0001
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Abstract

Why must critics unmask and demystify literary works? Why do they believe that language is always withholding some truth, that critic's task is to reveal unsaid or repressed? In this book, Rita Felski examines critique, dominant form of interpretation in literary studies, and situates it as but one method among many, a method with strong allure-but also definite limits. Felski argues that critique is a sensibility best captured by Paul Ricoeur's phrase the hermeneutics of suspicion. She shows how this suspicion toward texts forecloses many potential readings while providing no guarantee of rigorous or radical thought. Instead, she suggests, literary scholars should try what she calls postcritical reading: rather than looking behind a text for hidden causes and motives, literary scholars should place themselves in front of it and reflect on what it suggests and makes possible. By bringing critique down to earth and exploring new modes of interpretation, The Limits of Critique offers a fresh approach to relationship between artistic works and social world.

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Metadata

Authors
Felski, R.
Corresponding author
Felski, Rita
ORCID
Felski, Rita
Venue
University of Chicago Press eBooks
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Published
2015
DOI
10.7208/chicago/9780226294179.001.0001
OpenAlex
W2344967523
Cited by
1,709
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 138 · 2025: 211 · 2024: 172 · 2023: 176 · 2022: 143 · 2021: 170 · 2020: 158 · 2019: 255 · 2018: 165 · 2017: 95 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 3
FWCI
269.09
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
University of Chicago Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Literary Theory and Cultural Hermeneutics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Hermeneutics and Narrative Identity
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Contemporary Literature and Criticism
Keywords
literary criticism, critique, hermeneutics of suspicion, Paul Ricoeur, interpretation, demystification, literary theory, art and society

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