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partypete's review
4.0
very clever and very annoying - synced up really well with my writing a ton of meaningless papers at the moment
smarcorodriguez's review
4.0
This book serves a double function: it's a biting satire of the major strands of contemporary postmodern literary criticism (Derridian, historicist, Marxist, feminist, queer, postcolonial, etc.), but it also serves as a good crash-course introduction to the basic impulses of those different factions. The book loses a little of its comedic steam in the final third, and I have to admit that it was a little too crude for my taste, but it is worth reading. As a Christian, I found myself noticing that the concept of love was completely absent from the entire book, which leads me to think that Alan Jacob's "A Theology of Reading: The Hermeneutics of Love" may be the best way forward after reading this book.
But mostly, it's hilarious.
But mostly, it's hilarious.
ederwin's review
4.0
Brilliant, often funny, and occasionally hilarious, fictional non-fiction satirizing many of the academic trends in analysis of literature. When people review books, the reviews often say as much, or more, about themselves. That's fine if you are don't act like your interpretation of a text is the only possible one. But that, of course, is what some academics do. Making provocative statements is one way to get noticed and promote yourself.
It is unsurprising that Crews knows all about the different styles and trends of textual analysis and personalities of academics. What is surprising is that this guy, who has published very little fiction, can write such good satires. The fictional authors of the pieces here, supposedly articles presented in an academic conference, come alive as real characters, all seeing totally different things in the text and talking past, rather than with, each other. Das Nuff Dat sees a story of colonialism, Dolores Malatesta, who in her "real" life sent her father to prison for sexual abuse that he is still "struggling to remember" having committed, sees evidence of ritual satanic abuse, and so on with the other "authors".
It probably helps if you know a little about "theory", and academia. Maybe it helps to have read any of the Pooh books. (Disclaimer, I have not.) But if you have ever met any pompous ass in any context, and of course you have, then you can enjoy seeing these ones get roasted.
While Crews is a big critic of Freud you won't see much mention of penis envy or Oedipus complex here. That was skewered already in "The Pooh Perplex". But 35 years or so later there was plenty of new material to mock in the field of Pooh Studies.
Trigger warning: Contains Poo(h) jokes. The most laugh-out-loud funny chapter for me was from the author obsessed with Pooh's innards. Could rabbit have gotten Pooh unstuck through judicious use of an enema? Or does Pooh even poo?
It is unsurprising that Crews knows all about the different styles and trends of textual analysis and personalities of academics. What is surprising is that this guy, who has published very little fiction, can write such good satires. The fictional authors of the pieces here, supposedly articles presented in an academic conference, come alive as real characters, all seeing totally different things in the text and talking past, rather than with, each other. Das Nuff Dat sees a story of colonialism, Dolores Malatesta, who in her "real" life sent her father to prison for sexual abuse that he is still "struggling to remember" having committed, sees evidence of ritual satanic abuse, and so on with the other "authors".
It probably helps if you know a little about "theory", and academia. Maybe it helps to have read any of the Pooh books. (Disclaimer, I have not.) But if you have ever met any pompous ass in any context, and of course you have, then you can enjoy seeing these ones get roasted.
While Crews is a big critic of Freud you won't see much mention of penis envy or Oedipus complex here. That was skewered already in "The Pooh Perplex". But 35 years or so later there was plenty of new material to mock in the field of Pooh Studies.
Trigger warning: Contains Poo(h) jokes. The most laugh-out-loud funny chapter for me was from the author obsessed with Pooh's innards. Could rabbit have gotten Pooh unstuck through judicious use of an enema? Or does Pooh even poo?
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