Joseph North

My research is primarily in the literature of British modernism, with a special interest in the history and theory of criticism throughout the 20^th century.  My book Literary Criticism: A Concise Political History tracks the history of Anglo-American literary criticism from the beginning of the 20th century to the present, focusing particularly on the question of its political character.  I suppose I am also something of a generalist, with literary interests ranging fairly widely across periods.

Interests

20^th and 21^st century literature in English; the history of literary criticism; the history of universities; critical methodology; theories of the literary; the politics of aesthetic education.

Selected Publications

- Literary Criticism: A Concise Political History (Harvard University Press, forthcoming)

- “What’s ‘New Critical’ about ‘Close Reading’?  I.A. Richards and His New Critical Reception.”  New Literary History 44, no. 1 (2013): 141-157.   

- “The Iliad: A Romance?” (Review) Public Books (July 2012)

Courses

Major English Poets from Chaucer to Donne; Directed Studies: Literature; Poetry and Political Sensibility