Literature Now

Sascha Bru is associate professor of general and comparative literature at the University of Leuven (Belgium). He has produced over a dozen books on European avant-gardes and modernisms, including Democracy, Law and the Modernist Avant-Gardes: Writing in the State of Exception (EUP, 2009) and the co-edited volume The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines: Europe, 1880-1940 (OUP, 2016).

'The ingeniously organised essays in Literature Now provide an up-to-the-moment examination of recent trends in literary theory. The volume covers a comprehensive range of topics, including digital humanities and eco-critical studies, as well as welcome assessments of revisionist developments in such fields as genre studies, book history and narratology.' Professor Phillip Sicker, Fordham University Introduces the most important terms for understanding literature, past and present, in the twenty-first century Literature Now argues that modern literary history is currently the main site of theoretical and methodological reflection in literary studies. Via 19 key terms, the book takes stock of recent scholarship and demonstrates how analyses of particular historical phenomena have modified our understanding of crucial notions like archive, book, event, media, objects, style and the senses. The book not only reveals a rich diversity of subjects and approaches but also identifies the most salient traits of literature and literary studies today. Leading literary critics and historians offer thought-provoking arguments as well as authoritative explorations of the key terms of literary studies providing students as well as scholars with a rich resource for exploring theoretical issues from a historically informed perspective. Key Features - Organised around the key terms used in literary studies today: archive, book, medium, translation, subjects, senses, animals, objects, politics, time, invention, event, generation, period, beauty, mimesis, style, popular and genre - Puts literary history at the forefront of theoretical and methodological reflection in literary studies - Original chapters by leading literary critics, theorists and historians Sascha Bru (MDRN) teaches modern literature and theory at the University of Leuven. His recent books include Regarding the Popular: Modernism, the Avant-Garde and High and Low Culture (2011, edited with Peter Nicholls et al.). Ben De Bruyn teaches comparative literature at Maastricht University. He is the author of Wolfgang Iser: A Companion (2012). Michel Delville teaches English and American literatures, as well as comparative literature, at the University of Liège. His latest publications include Crossroads Poetics: Text, Image, Music, Film and Beyond (2013). Cover image: shutterstock.com Cover design: Paul Smith [EUP logo] euppublishing.com

Introduction (Sascha Bru, Ben de Bruyn, Michel Delville); I. Channels; Archive (Ed Folsom); Book (Sydney J. Shep); Medium (Julian Murphet); Translation (Thomas O. Beebee); II. Subjects / Objects; Subjects (Ortwin de Graef); Senses (Michel Delville); Animals (Carrie Rohman); Objects (Timothy Morton); Politics (David Ayers); III. Temporalities; Time (Tyrus Miller); Invention (Jed Rasula); Event (Scott McCracken); Generation (Julian Hanna); Period (Ben de Bruyn); IV. Aesthetics; Beauty (Sascha Bru); Mimesis (Thomas Pavel); Style (Sarah Posman); Popular (David Glover); Genre (Jonathan Monroe); Notes; Index.