Style in Theory: Between Literature and Philosophy

by Ivan Callus (Editor), James Corby (Editor), Gloria Lauri-Lucente (Editor)

'What, in theory, is style? How has style been rethought in literary theory?'

Drawing together leading academics working within and across the disciplines of English, philosophy, literary theory, and comparative literature, Style in Between Philosophy and Literature sets out to rethink the important but all-too-often-overlooked issue of style, exploring in particular how the theoretical humanities open conceptual spaces that afford and encourage reflection on the nature of style, the ways in which style is experienced and how style allows disciplinary boundaries to be both drawn and transgressed.

Offering incisive reflections on style from a diverse and contemporary range of theoretical and methodological perspectives, the essays contained in this volume critically revisit and challenge accepted accounts of style, and provide fresh and compelling readings of the relevance in any rethinking of style of specific works by the likes of Shakespeare, Petrarch, Kant, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Deleuze, Blanchot, Derrida, Nancy, Cixous and Meillassoux.

Genres: Philosophy

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Ivan Callus's main areas of interest are contemporary literature and literary theory.His PhD was obtained at the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at Cardiff University in 1998, following research into the 'cahiers d’anagrammes' of Ferdinand de Saussure and their influence on literature and literary theory. Aspects of this research have since appeared in a number of journal articles, and the fascinatingly enigmatic nature of the 'anagrammes' is something Callus has continued to investigate in more recent work.

Callus is the founding co-editor, with James Corby, of 'CounterText: A Journal for the Study of the Post-Literary', launched with Edinburgh University Press in 2015. The journal’s focus is on literature’s evolving identities and its directions in contemporary culture. It’s a focus that complements another strong interest: posthumanism. With Stefan Herbrechter, Callus is also the co-editor of the 'Critical Posthumanisms' book series published by Brill and the co-director of the 'Critical Posthumanism Network' (criticalposthumanism.net).

Callus has co-edited six books centring on intersections between literature and various areas of literary theory: 'Discipline and Practice: The (Ir)resistibility of Theory' (Bucknell University Press, 2004); 'Post-Theory/Culture/Criticism' (Rodopi, 2004); 'Cy-Borges: Memories of Posthumanism in the Work of Jorge Luis Borges' (Bucknell University Press, 2009); 'Posthumanist Shakespeares' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012); 'Style in Theory: Between Literature and Philosophy' (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013); 'European Posthumanism' (Routledge, 2016). Callus has published various articles and book chapters on contemporary narrative, poststructuralist literary theory and comparative literature, including work which has appeared or is forthcoming in journals like Angelaki, Arcadia, Cahiers Ferdinand de Saussure, Comparative Critical Studies, CounterText, EJES, Electronic Book Review, Forum for Modern Language Studies, Parallax, Subjectivity, and Word and Text.