by Imani Perry
First published 2013
The 2012 MLA convention becomes the setting for urgent conversations about the future of literary studies. Imani Perry joins fellow scholars in Russell A. Berman's Presidential Forum, where questions about language, literature, and learning demand immediate answers. Alongside Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Christopher Freeburg, Jack Halberstam, and B. Venkat Mani, Perry confronts the challenges facing their profession. The forum takes place within a larger retrospective moment, as the journal Profession marks thirty-five years of documenting academic life. Contributors spanning decades gather their voices, from Wayne C. Booth to Henry Louis Gates Jr., from Gerald Graff to Mary Louise Pratt. Perry must navigate between honoring the field's history and charting its uncertain future. The weight of institutional change presses against traditional scholarly practices, forcing difficult choices about what literature means and how it should be taught.
Genres: literature, literary-criticism, literary-fiction, american, non-fiction, academia, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: academic-setting, institutional-change
Period: 2012, 35 Years
305 pages · Kindle Edition · Modern Language Association of America