September 16, 2005
Faigley, Lester. Fragments of Rationality: Postmodernity and the Subject of Composition. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1992.
Faigley addresses the place, meaning, and purpose of composition studies in the wake of postmodernism and the breakdown of the concept of a unified subject. While maintaining a fundamental faith in composition studies and literacy training, Faigley utilizes postmodern theories of the subject to critique and modify pedagogical strategies in those fields. According to Faigley, composition studies has proven commensurable with postmodernity in most ways. However, there has been conflict over one issue: “where composition studies has proven least receptive to postmodern theory is in the surrendering of the belief in the writer as an autonomous self, even at a time when extensive group collaboration is practiced in many writing classrooms.” (15) Particularly of interest are Chapters 3-5, which trace the historical formulation of the subject in composition studies, and Chapter 6, which addresses how electronic technologies and media classrooms are further destabilizing the concept of text and subject in the composition classroom.
Though Faigley does very little to address the issues of race, class and gender overtly, his writing has clear implications for it.
For a more explicit critique of composition studies and the humanities in regard to postmodernity and the notion of the unified subject, see Zavarzadeh and Milton, “Theory Pedagogy Politics,” abstracted on this site.