“Robert Scholes has written an enviable book on the uses and abuses of literary theory in the teaching of literature.  One of [his] most forceful points…is that ‘literary theory’ is not something a teacher may either ‘use’ or not use, for teaching itself is an unavoidably theoretical activity.”—Gerald Graff,
Novel
“Scholes’ emphasis in
Textual Power
is indicated by the book’s subtitle.  After a provocative analysis of disciplinary values and departmental tendencies…[he] proposes that ‘we must stop “teaching literature” and start studying texts’…His book is essential for college libraries.”—R.C. Gebhardt,
Choice
“There is no issue more current, more relevant to the present scene, than the problem of pedagogy and its relation to contemporary theory.
is an important, provocative, and above all useful contribution to this discussion.”—Gregory L. Ulmer
Robert Scholes, author of
Structuralism in Literature
and
Semiotics and Interpretation
among other books, is Alumni-Alumnae University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Brown University.