McKinney 1 Levi McKinney Dr.

Schmidt ENG 8000 11 November 2012

Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction Taylor & Francis began Critique in 1956 as an academic journal dedicated to the study of contemporary works of fiction. Quoted directly from the publications website, Taylor & Francis proudly claims that Critique has identified the most notable authors of our time from its inception. Its pages have featured some of the first critical examinations of authors such as Thomas Pynchon, Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood, and David Foster Wallace. Aside from the study of contemporary fiction, Critiques most explicit aim is to provide the medium for critical essays on new authors with emerging reputations. Critiques executive editorial board is made up of Geoffrey Green (San Francisco State U), Donald J. Greiner (U of South Carolina) and Larry McCaffery (San Diego State U) who publish the journal four times a year. There are also 18 contributing editors of both genders who hail not only from diverse universities but also diverse racial and national backgrounds. Critique has an estimated circulation of 1,500 and publishes only scholarly articles (no abstracts, short notes or book reviews) submitted through an online open submission. Although the time between decision and publication decision is two years, publication in this journal is not to be taken lightly. Critiques two to three readers choose only 20 articles (five per issue) for publication each year out the average 100 received.

McKinney 2 Critique is, at its core, a scholarly academic journal strictly focused on the trajectory of contemporary fiction. Unlike some journals, there are no indications from the editors, mission statement, or title that would suggest a critical slant or overarching theme for published articles. However, a survey of its issues from the past decade reveals the obvious effects of postmodernity on literary scholarship. Not only are the kinds of works examined arguably postmodern, but also the systems of thought and types of criticism stem from a postmodern mind. Articles regularly feature postmodern critical vocabulary from deconstruction, psychoanalytical and Marxist traditions and feature key postmodern figures such as Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault. However, Critique interestingly mobilizes the vocabulary and thinkers of the postmodern era, not for a theory-laden journal, but as the means for cultural and identity based analyses of literary works. It is in these two critical traditions that Critique has excelled within the past decade. The 40-something issues surveyed have an undercurrent that is distinctly focused on the intersections of gender, race, class, disability, etc. and the ways in which these identifications are played out within our fiction and our culture as a whole. Critiques focus on gender studies can be consistently traced throughout each volume over the past decade. However, in the beginning, the journals treatment of gender was centered entirely on feminist theory and vocabularies. In 2002, Critique dedicates an entire issue (44.3) to feminist critical theory that features articles such as Travels of a Transnational Slut: Sexual Migration in Kincaids Lucy and A Commemoration of Wounds Endured and Resented: Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin as Feminist Memoir which deal explicitly with female sexuality and agency. This trend of feminist-centered gender study continues with articles Science, Narrative, and Agency in Gravitys Rainbow (46.1) and The Signifyin(g) Detective: BarbaraNeely's Blanche White, Undercover in Plain Sight (46.4) until there is a marked shift to

McKinney 3 masculinity-based gender study with the articles "'And As Things Fell Apart': The Crisis Of Postmodern Masculinity In Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho And Dennis Cooper's Frisk." (47.1) and Journey to the End of the Father: Battlefield of Masculinity in the Mosquito Coast (47.4). Critique also dedicates an entire issue (48.3), as it did with feminist criticism, to articles that deal solely with masculinity studies. This shift in focus correlates with the emergence of mens studies as a relatively new organized discipline in scholarly research. Critique continues to contribute extensively to this field, even up to its most recent article 9/11 and the Limitations of the Man's Man Construction of Masculinity in Don DeLillo's Falling Man (53.3). This commitment to identity-based study of contemporary fiction continues throughout Critiques issues for all identity distinctions. Race studies is also a major concern for Critique throughout this decade beginning in 2002 with articles Oscar Hijuelos: Eternal Homesickness and the Music of Memory (44.1) and Japan, Creative Masochism, and Transnationality in Vineland (44.4) which deal with minority representations and postcolonial identity formation. Whereas articles such as Chosen People: American Exceptionalism in Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible (49.4) that feature Achebe and examinations of black culture are necessary in any contemporary scholarship on race, it is an incomplete version of race studies. Critique takes its own discussions of race to feature articles that also center on Jewish (50.4), Native-American (53.3), Arab-American (52.3) and White (45.2) identities.

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