{"product_id":"why-literary-periods-mattered-historical-contrast-and-the-prestige-of-english-studies-paperback","title":"Why Literary Periods Mattered: Historical Contrast and the Prestige of English Studies - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eTed Underwood\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the mid-nineteenth century, the study of English literature began to be divided into courses that surveyed discrete \"periods.\" Since that time, scholars' definitions of literature and their rationales for teaching it have changed radically. But the periodized structure of the curriculum has remained oddly unshaken, as if the exercise of contrasting one literary period with another has an importance that transcends the content of any individual course.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhy Literary Periods Mattered\u003c\/i\u003e explains how historical contrast became central to literary study, and why it remained institutionally central in spite of critical controversy about literature itself. Organizing literary history around contrast rather than causal continuity helped literature departments separate themselves from departments of history. But critics' long reliance on a rhetoric of contrasted movements and fateful turns has produced important blind spots in the discipline. In the twenty-first century, Underwood argues, literary study may need digital technology in particular to develop new methods of reasoning about gradual, continuous change.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eTed Underwood is Associate Professor of English at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Work of the Sun: Literature, Science, and Political Economy, 1760-1860\u003c\/i\u003e and blogs about digital approaches to literary history at The Stone and the Shell.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 216\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.7 x 8.9 x 5.9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 01, 2015\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47484337848498,"sku":"9780804795265","price":51.3,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0770\/3891\/1666\/files\/b3cc6a98c397cc608a16c42f2db1df86.webp?v=1779275287","url":"https:\/\/box.dadyminds.org\/products\/why-literary-periods-mattered-historical-contrast-and-the-prestige-of-english-studies-paperback","provider":"DADYMINDS BOX","version":"1.0","type":"link"}