Ways of Re-Thinking Literature

Ways of Re-Thinking Literature creates a unique platform where leading literary thinkers and practitioners provide a multiplicity of views into what literature is today.

The texts gathered in this extraordinary collection range from philosophy to poetry, to theater, to cognitive sciences, to art criticism, to fiction, and their authors rank amongst the most significant figures in their fields, in France, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Topics covered include an assessment of the role of literary narratives in contemporary writing, new considerations on the novel, a redefinition of the "poetic" factor in poetry and life, and a discussion of how literature engages with contemporary forms of individuality.

Under the auspices of literary luminaries Hé lè ne Cixous and the late John Ashbery, these new pieces of writing bring to light contributions by innovative and well-established authors from the English-speaking sphere, as well as never-before translated prominent new voices in French theory.

Featuring original work from some of today's most influential authors, Ways of Re-Thinking Literature is an indispensable tool for anybody interested in the future and possibilities of literature as an endeavor for life, thought, and creativity.

With special cover artwork by Rita Ackermann, the volume includes contributions from Emily Apter, Philippe Artiè res, John Ashbery, Paul Audi, Dodie Bellamy, Tom Bishop, Hé lè ne Cixous, Laurent Dubreuil, Tristan Garcia, Stathis Gourgouris, Donatien Grau, Boris Groys, Shelley Jackson, Wayne Koestenbaum, Camille Laurens, Vanessa Place, Maë l Renouard, Peter Schjeldahl, Adam Thirlwell, and Camille de Toledo.

Introduction
Tom Bishop and Donatien Grau
Prelude: Golden Discount
John Ashbery
Part I: Literary Narratives

1. The Disappearing Avant-Garde
Tom Bishop


2. The Critical Life: Rethinking Biography in an Experimental Mode
Emily Apter


3. What Literature Can Do
Philippe Artières


4. Some Notes Towards a Literary Conception of Literature
Donatien Grau
Part II: Literature and the Novel


5. The Installation as Novel
Boris Groys


6. History of New Novels
Adam Thirlwell


7. What becomes of the novel when the gods are coming back
Tristan Garcia
Part III: Literature and the Poetic


8. The Varieties of Literary Experience
Peter Schjeldahl


9. Intellection, Cognition, Contradiction
Laurent Dubreuil


10. Heiner Müller's Lyric Loneliness and the Mythical Body
Stathis Gourgouris


11. The Route of the Impossible
Paul Audi
Part IV: A New Subjectivity


12. Re-thinking, re-feeling literature
Camille Laurens


13. Hoarding as Écriture
Dodie Bellamy


14. Corpse Pose
Wayne Koestenbaum


15. The Shelley Jackson Vocational School for Ghost Speakers and Hearing-Mouth Children
Shelley Jackson


16. Some Fragments
Maël Renouard


17. Fictional Habitation
Camille de Toledo


18. Act two: Why I am a destiny

Vanessa Place
Conclusion: Ay yay! The Cry of Literature
Hélène Cixous
Index