Professing Literature: An Institutional History

Professing Literature traces the history of academic literary study in America from the early colonial period through the late twentieth century. The book examines how literature became a professional academic discipline and how different approaches to teaching it evolved over time. The narrative follows major debates and conflicts that shaped literary studies, including tensions between generalists and specialists, scholars and critics, and traditionalists and reformers. Graff documents the establishment of English departments, the development of research methodologies, and the emergence of competing schools of interpretation. The book incorporates extensive research from university archives, academic journals, and personal correspondence to reconstruct key moments in the institutionalization of literary studies. It presents the perspectives of professors, administrators, and students who participated in these transformative periods. Through its examination of academic culture and institutional change, the book reveals how internal conflicts within literary studies have contributed to the field's development and resilience. The history demonstrates that today's debates about teaching literature have deep roots in the discipline's past.

Readers appreciate Graff's clear explanation of how English departments evolved and why they remain fractured. Many note his balanced handling of conflicts between different approaches to teaching literature. Multiple reviewers mention the book helps them understand current departmental dynamics they experience firsthand. Common criticisms focus on dense academic language and repetitive points. Some readers wanted more discussion of recent developments post-1987. A few found the organizational structure confusing. Specific praise: "Finally makes sense of why literature programs are structured the way they are" - Goodreads reviewer "Helped me navigate department politics as a new professor" - Amazon review Specific criticism: "Gets bogged down in institutional minutiae" - Goodreads reviewer "The writing style is dry and jargon-heavy" - Amazon review Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (216 ratings) Amazon: 4.3/5 (41 ratings) Google Books: 4/5 (89 ratings)

The Rise and Fall of English by Robert Scholes This history traces how English departments evolved from teaching rhetoric to literature, revealing parallel institutional changes to those discussed in Graff's work.

The English Department: A Personal and Institutional History by W. Ross Winterowd The book examines the development of university English departments through both archival research and personal experience as a professor during key transformational periods.

The Employment of English by Michael Bérubé This work analyzes the changing role of English studies in universities from the post-war period through the culture wars, focusing on institutional politics and academic labor.

Literary Theory: An Institutional History by Jeffrey Williams The text maps the institutionalization of literary theory in American universities from the 1960s through the 1990s, connecting theoretical movements to departmental changes.

Literature as a Way of Life by Richard Poirier This examination of American literature departments reveals how institutional practices shape literary interpretation and professional identities in academia.

📚 Gerald Graff's work traces over 150 years of English departments' evolution, from their humble beginnings teaching basic rhetoric to their transformation into complex institutions teaching literature and critical theory. 🎓 The book reveals how the "culture wars" in literature departments aren't new - similar debates about what and how to teach literature have existed since the 1800s. 📖 Despite being a scholarly work about academia, "Professing Literature" became an unexpected crossover success and is now considered a foundational text in understanding how American higher education developed. 🏫 The author draws from his personal experience teaching at various institutions, including the University of Illinois-Chicago, where he served as Professor of English and Education from 2000-2016. 💭 Graff coined the phrase "teach the conflicts," suggesting that professors should explicitly address and teach about academic disagreements rather than trying to avoid them - an approach that has influenced modern teaching methods.