Theory, Cultural Studies And Cross-Disciplinary Research: A Dialogue With Jonathan Arac

Abstract

ABSTRACT Jonathan Arac is one of the leading American post-modernists who once taught at Columbia University and served as Andrew W. Mellon Professor of English as well as the founding director of the Humanities Center at the University of Pittsburgh. He is considered to be one of the most notable “New Americanists” with an eclectic range of interests in literary theory, US literature (with an emphasis on the controversy of Huckleberry Finn). His research methods range from theoretical framing, cultural study to interdisciplinary study. This interview, which was conducted in oral and written form at the University of Pittsburgh from December 2019 to December 2020, touches upon such topics as Arac’s academic connection with Chinese academia, the essence of literary theory and its relationship with cultural studies and interdisciplinary research. Arac perceives his studies on literary theory, “new literary history,” and cross-disciplinary research since the 1960s as an integrated whole which “opens boundaries” and “extends our powers.”