
A Taste for Language
Literacy, Class, and English Studies
James Ray Watkins(Author)
Southern Illinois University Press
Will be published approx. on 30. November 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-8093-2931-1 (ISBN)
Description
This is a personal history of English Studies in the twentieth century. 'This is a book about the American Dream as it has become embodied in the university in general and in the English department in particular', writes James Ray Watkins at the start of ""A Taste for Language: Literacy, Class, and English Studies"". In it, Watkins argues that contemporary economic and political challenges make elementary questions about literacy, language, literature, education, and class once again imperative, and require a clear understanding of the cultural ideals of English studies. A personal history of university-level English studies in the twentieth century, ""A Taste for Language"" combines biography, autobiography, and critical analysis to explore the central role of freshman English and literary studies in the creation and maintenance of the middle class. It tells a multi-generational story of the author and his father, intertwined with close reading of texts and historical analysis. The story moves from depression-era Mississippi, where the author's father was born, to a contemporary English department, where the author now teaches. Watkins looks not only at textbooks, scholars, and the academy but also at families and other social institutions. A rich combination of biography, autobiography, and critical analysis, ""A Taste for Language"" questions what purpose an education in English language and literature serves in the lives of the educated in a class-based society and whether English studies has become wholly irrelevant in the twenty-first century.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Carbondale
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
1 illustration
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
269 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8093-2931-1 (9780809329311)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
11/2009
1st Edition
Southern Illinois University Press
€58.99
Available for download
Person
James Ray Watkins is an online educator for the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division and the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University. His online journal is called Writing in the Wild.