This book argues for the power of ordinary language philosophy (OLP) -- the tradition in philosophy inaugurated by Wittgenstein and Austin, and extended by Cavell -- to transform literary studies. The first part introduces Wittgenstein’s vision of language and his critique of the "craving for generality," which characterizes theory today. It shows that this philosophy offers a new kind of realism, a powerful alternative to the skepticism of the tradition after Saussure. This part also analyzes the difference between Derrida and Wittgenstein, and offers new perspectives on intersectionality the ... More

This book argues for the power of ordinary language philosophy (OLP) -- the tradition in philosophy inaugurated by Wittgenstein and Austin, and extended by Cavell -- to transform literary studies. The first part introduces Wittgenstein’s vision of language and his critique of the "craving for generality," which characterizes theory today. It shows that this philosophy offers a new kind of realism, a powerful alternative to the skepticism of the tradition after Saussure. This part also analyzes the difference between Derrida and Wittgenstein, and offers new perspectives on intersectionality theory. The second part offers a critical rereading of Saussure, and of recent “new materialist” interpretations of his work. It shows how Saussure’s vision of language was taken up in two classics of post-Saussurean literary theory: de Man’s “Semiology and Rhetoric,” and Knapp and Michaels’s “Against Theory.” It rebuts Gellner’s and Marcuse’s claim that OLP is inherently conservative. Common sense is not always reactionary; difficulty is not incompatible with clarity. The third part investigates modes of reading, and the value of literature. The hermeneutics of suspicion offers an unconvincing picture of language, texts and reading. Instead, reading can be understood as a practice of acknowledgment, and as an adventure in quest of the new. For Wittgenstein, to choose a word is to exercise judgment. Word and world are intertwined. A sharpened attention to words is a sharpened attention to reality. Attention is at once aesthetic, ethical and political. The best writers teach us to see.