At War with the Word: Literary Theory and Liberal Education

by R.V. Young

Book by Young, R. V.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literature

199 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Robert V. Young, Jr. is a professor emeritus of Renaissance Literature and Literary Criticism in the English Department of North Carolina State University. He is the co-founder and co-editor (with M. Thomas Hester) of the John Donne Journal and became the editor of the conservative quarterly Modern Age in 2007.

He has served as Director of Graduate Studies in the English Department at NCSU, as well as continuing to teach multiple courses in the department, especially regarding Renaissance and Medieval literature. His articles on English literature and education have appeared in multiple journals and periodicals, including the John Donne Journal, Ben Jonson Journal, First Things, The Weekly Standard, National Review, and Culture Wars. He is also a member of and has served as president (1998–1999) of the John Donne Society, receiving its 2002 Award for Distinguished Publication in Donne Studies for his book Doctrine and Devotion in Seventeenth-Century Poetry. He is a contributing editor of Touchstone magazine.

Dr. Young received his B.A. in English from Rollins College and his M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Yale University. He is also a fluent reader and translator of Latin, as well as a convert to the Roman Catholic faith.

Reviews

[Steve]

Post modernism is a war against the word. This is a very clear explanation of current literary theory and its grip upon the universities and the establishment.

[James Henderson]

This book presents a cogent argument against the vagaries of postmodernism in literary criticism, but it is much more than that. The author concludes the book with a defense of the important role literature plays in liberal education. The result is an inspirational and informative defense of the best literature and the uses of that literature as it informs that which is great in western culture.

[Josiah DeGraaf]

This is a fantastic book rebutting the claims of Decontructionism, New Historicism, Marxism and the like in literary theory and criticism and advocating for a return to more traditional views of literature. Every chapter in this is fantastic, and Young does a great job showing the absolute folly of these new literary trends by means of careful argument and sound rebuttals. Young's point on how Deconstructionism is basically Augustine's problem of language reworded but without Augustine's solution founded in the Triune God was particularly well-written. It was a bit technical at times and required some previous experience in literary theory, but most chapters avoided this level of technicality. Overall, this is an excellent rebuttal of problematic current trends in literary theory and an excellent defense for traditional ways of viewing literature. Highly recommended for anyone interested in reading more in the field of literary theory.

Rating: 4.5-5 Stars (Excellent).