This volume of specially commissioned original essays presents the
thoughts of some of the most distinguished commentators within the
American academy on the fundamental changes that have taken place in
the humanities in the latter part of the twentieth century. In the
transformation of American higher education from the university to the
"demoversity," the humanities have become a less and less important
part of education, a matter established by a statistical appendix and
elaborated on in several of the essays. The individual essays offer
close observations into how the humanities have been affected by
declining academic status, by demographic shifts, by reductions in
financial support, and by changing communication technology. They also
explore the effect of these forces on books, libraries, and the
phenomenology of reading in the age of images. When basic conditions
change, theory follows, and several essays trace the appearance and
effect of new relativistic epistemologies in the humanities. Social
institutions change as well in such circumstances, and the volume
concludes with studies of the new social arrangements that have
developed in the humanities in recent years: the attack on
professionalism and the effort to transform the humanities into the
social conscience of academia and even of the nation as a whole. Cause
and effect? Who can say? What the essays make clear, however, is that
as the humanities have become less significant in American higher
education, they have also been the scene of unusually energetic
pedagogical, social, and intellectual changes. The contributors to the
volume are David Bromwich, John D'Arms, Denis Donoghue, Carla Hesse,
Gertrude Himmelfarb, Lynn Hunt, Frank Kermode, Louis Menand, Francis
Oakley, Christopher Ricks, and Margery Sabin. Included is a
substantial introduction by Alvin Kernan and an appendix of tables and
figures showing baccalaureate and doctoral degrees over the years in
various types of schools. Originally published in 1997. The Princeton
Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again
make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished
backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the
original texts of these important books while presenting them in
durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton
Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly
heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton
University Press since its founding in 1905.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781400864522
Publisert
2014
Utgiver
Vendor
Princeton University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter