Literary realists have often been dismissed by later writers of the modernist and post-structuralist schools for their lack of aesthetic sophistication and etymological naivete. In Pragmatist Realism, Sami Ludwig argues that the artistic quality of realist texts is better appreciated by approaching them from a cognitive perspective, rather than from a linguistic or formalist one. Ludwig notes that literary realism arose from the same cultural scene as the pragmatist philosophy of William James and Charles Sanders Peirce, and that cognitive psychology built upon pragmatist philosophy. He...

Literary realists have often been dismissed by later writers of the modernist and post-structuralist schools for their lack of aesthetic sophistication and etymological naivete. In Pragmatist Realism, Sami Ludwig argues that the artistic quality of realist texts is better appreciated by approaching them from a cognitive perspective, rather than from a linguistic or formalist one. Ludwig notes that literary realism arose from the same cultural scene as the pragmatist philosophy of William James and Charles Sanders Peirce, and that cognitive psychology built upon pragmatist philosophy. He...

This book is a collection of recent scholarship on Maxine Hong Kingston, gathered on the occasion of the very first conference ever devoted exclusively to Kingston and to celebrate her opera omnia. Featuring the work of researchers from four continents, the book represents the cosmopolitan reception of the most important Asian American author. In addition to many new angles on her two canonical postmodern autobiographies, The Woman Warrior and China Men, this collection also tackles Kingston's less frequently discussed writings and her most recent publications. Parallel readings and...