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In and Out: Re-forming English Literary History

The humanities are always in the midst of reformation. Internally, we are continually critiquing the limitations of our basic organization by national boundaries and historical period. Looking outward, we are always asking (and being asked) what our research does: what role our methodologies and objects of study play in the university and in society in general. Over the past several months, these questions have been taken up with increasing urgency. Not a month goes by without the appearance of an article interrogating the value of the humanities, often wondering whether it can last and nearly always assuming that it will have to change. This year’s MLA conference theme, ‘‘Vulnerable Times,’’ centered on thinking through ‘‘the precarious place of education—particularly in languages, the humanities, and the arts,’’ provoked heated debate about these internally and externally-directed concerns. From large-scale questions about our responsibilities in the sphere of global politics down to reflections on our varied reading practices—close, distance, surface, or otherwise—the issues currently driving us