The Birth and Death of Literary Theory - by Galin Tihanov (Hardcover)

About the Book

A comprehensive account of all major trends in Russian interwar literary theory and its wider impact in our post-deconstruction and world literature era, this book attempts to answer two fundamental questions: What does it mean to think about literature theoretically, and what happens to literary theory when it is no longer available as an option?

Book Synopsis

A comprehensive account of all major trends in Russian interwar literary theory and its wider impact in our post-deconstruction and world literature era, this book attempts to answer two fundamental questions: What does it mean to think about literature theoretically, and what happens to literary theory when it is no longer available as an option?

Review Quotes

"[One] senses that Tihanov, whose own intellectual range is staggering, could have chosen any number of examples to demonstrate his thesis....[A] rich and generous book."--Caryl Emerson "The Russian Review"

"Committed both to rigorous historical contextualization and to the clear analysis of ideas, Tihanov's highly original book addresses a topic of major concern to the humanities, the rise of literary theory, showing the central contribution of Russian thinkers to it. This is the first book one should read on its subject."--William Mills Todd III "Harvard University"

"Eloquent and erudite, Galin Tihanov offers us a magisterial account of twentieth-century Russian literary theory. His book is not a survey but a careful analysis of diverse movements and theorists whose unexpected juxtapositions put familiar concepts and people in an entirely new light. This is intellectual history at its best."--Michael Wachtel "Princeton University"

"If literary theory is your thing, and you're feeling uninspired by what the Anglo-American academy has to offer, The Birth and Death is a fine showcase for what is, in effect, another world of literary theory, largely untapped. That Tihanov writes about...quite different approaches to literature--as well as about canon wars within the Russian émigré community--with such authority and erudition is, frankly, remarkable in itself."--Ken Hirschkop "Textual Practice"

"The foundational status of literary theory in twentieth-century Russia has never been described with greater attention to detail than in Galin Tihanov's new book. And this extraordinary historical groundwork results in the ultimate challenge for literary criticism today: can and should the discipline survive under epistemological conditions that are now so radically different?"--Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht "Stanford University"

"There are few literary critics and theorists that delve into the afterlives of past theories and theoretical trends as dazzlingly and lucidly as Galin Tihanov does."--Daiana Gârdan "Metacritic"

"This detailed, authoritative study of the European twentieth century in terms of literary and cultural theory, its only fault being its understatement, ranges through several countries and languages, bringing familiar names into interesting juxtapositions."--Jeremy Tambling "The Modern Language Review"

"Tihanov has written an excellent book that provides a plethora of substance for reflection, and most importantly reminds us of the time when literature and the study of literature was taken seriously to an extent that to most readers today seems like an act of defamiliarization in itself."--Eli Park Sorensen "Hong Kong Review of Books"

"Tihanov's journey across past intellectual landscapes is engaging and helpful: it allows us to understand a great deal about the past, the present, and ourselves in that present."--Galina Babak "New Literary Observer"

"Up to now, no one has woven together the many threads of Russian literary thought--Formalism, Socialist Realism, Marxism, the Bakhtin Circle, and the many groups, domestic and émigré, that shaped modern theory. With a large cast of characters and a sharp, cumulative argument, Tihanov renders obsolete numerous received judgments about theory's origins and impact."--Haun Saussy "University of Chicago"

About the Author

Galin Tihanov is the George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature at Queen Mary University of London.