Politics and Value in English Studies

The current debate about the nature of English studies has questioned the status of English as a discipline. Josephine Guy and Ian Small set this so-called "crisis in English" within the larger context of disciplinary knowledge. They examine the teaching of English and literary studies in the United States and Britain, and argue that the attempt by some radical critics to politicize the discipline has profound consequences for the nature of English studies. In the process they demystify issues and arguments that have often been obscured by jargon and polemic.

• Makes accessible a subject which is too often obscured by polemic and jargon
• Illuminates the nature of English studies as a discipline, and the way in which it is taught