Stanley Fish is an American literary theorist and legal scholar, often associated with postmodernism, though he describes himself as an anti-foundationalist. His work focuses on the critical examination of texts and interpretations, exploring how meanings are constructed and how they shape our understanding of the world. Fish's approach is known for its provocative nature and emphasis on the idea that there are no universal truths, only interpretive communities.
This collection features thought-provoking essays from a prominent cultural critic, showcasing his most impactful work from the New York Times. Each piece has sparked significant discussion and debate, highlighting the author's insights on contemporary issues and cultural phenomena. Readers can expect a deep exploration of societal themes and a critical examination of American culture through the lens of a leading voice in the field.
Exploring the complexities of freedom of speech and the First Amendment, this work provides a nonpartisan analysis of its protections and limitations. The author, a renowned public intellectual, delves into the types of speech that should be regulated versus those that should remain free, offering insightful observations that challenge conventional views. This timely examination addresses the current discourse surrounding free speech, making it a crucial read for anyone interested in understanding its implications in today's society.
The book explores the longstanding debate in Milton studies regarding the poet's alignment, with one camp viewing him as aligned with the devil and the other with divine forces. Stanley Fish's work reconciles these opposing views by proposing that "Paradise Lost" reflects the transformation of its readers, explaining their divided responses. Three decades later, the discussions initiated in this analysis remain influential, shaping ongoing debates in literary criticism and interpretation of Milton's work.
Stanley Fish focuses on well-known movies (such as Anatomy of a Murder, Twelve
Angry Men, or A Man for All Seasons) that take law as their subject, and
explains how legal doctrine is made into the stuff of plot and character. A
book for movie lovers written in an accessible and engaging style.
“Fish mines cultural touchstones from Milton to ‘Married with Children’ to explain how various types of arguments are structured and how that understanding can lead to victory” — New York Times Book Review A lively and accessible guide to understanding rhetoric by the world class English and Law professor and bestselling author of How to Write a Sentence. Filled with the wit and observational prowess that shaped Stanley Fish’s acclaimed bestseller How to Write a Sentence, Winning Arguments guides readers through the “greatest hits” of rhetoric. In this clever and engaging guide, Fish offers insight and outlines the crucial keys you need to win any debate, anywhere, anytime—drawn from landmark legal cases, politics, his own career, and even popular film and television. A celebration of clashing minds and viewpoints, Winning Arguments is sure to become a classic.
This collection showcases Stanley Fish's most significant writings, featuring a blend of his classic works alongside fresh content. It offers insights into his influential ideas and contributions to literary theory and criticism, making it a valuable resource for both scholars and enthusiasts of his thought. The new material enriches the existing texts, providing a comprehensive view of Fish's intellectual journey and the evolution of his perspectives.
"From 1995 to 2013, Stanley Fish's provocative New York Times columns consistently generated passionate discussion and debate. In Think Again, he has assembled almost one hundred of his best columns into a thematically arranged collection with a substantial new introduction that explains his intention in writing these pieces and offers an analysis of why they provoked so much reaction. Some readers reported being frustrated when they couldn't figure out where Fish, one of America's most influential thinkers, stood on the controversies he addressed in the essays--from atheism and affirmative action to plagiarism and postmodernism. But, as Fish says, that is the point. Opinions are cheap; you can get them anywhere. Instead of offering just another set of them, Fish analyzes and dissects the arguments put forth by different sides--in debates over free speech, identity politics, the gun lobby, and other hot-button topics--in order to explain how their arguments work or don't work. In short, these are essays that teach you not what to think but how to think more clearly. Brief and accessible yet challenging, these essays provide all the hard-edged intellectual, cultural, and political analysis one expects from Fish. At the same time, the collection includes a number of revealing and even poignant autobiographical essays in which, as Fish says, "readers will learn about my anxieties, my aspirations, my eccentricities, my foibles, my father, and my obsessions--Frank Sinatra, Ted Williams, basketball, and Jews."--Publisher's description
"In literary theory, the philosophy of law, and the sociology of knowledge, no issue has been more central to current debate than the status of our interpretations. Do they rest on a ground of rationality or are they subjective impositions of a merely personal point of view? In Doing What Comes Naturally, Stanley Fish refuses the dilemma posed by this question and argues that while we can never separate our judgments from the contexts in which they are made, those judgments are nevertheless authoritative and even, in the only way that matters, objective. He thus rejects both the demand for an ahistorical foundation, and the conclusion that in the absence of such a foundation we reside in an indeterminate world. In a succession of provocative and wide-ranging chapters, Fish explores the implications of his position for our understanding of legal, literary, and psychoanalytic interpretation, the nature of professional and institutional culture, and the place of reason in a world that is rhetorical through and through."--Publisher description.
Stanley Fish is one of America's most stimulating literary theorists. In this
book, he undertakes a reexamination of some of criticism's most basic
assumptions. He penetrates to the core of the modern debate about
interpretation, explodes numerous misleading formulations, and offers a
proposal for a new way of thinking about the way we read.
