Reading Inside Out

This collection brings together eleven interviews with J. Hillis Miller from 1987 to 2015 conducted by distinguished scholars and critics from China, England, Ireland, and the United States. The volume offers the readers a rich gallery of representations and interventions occasioned by a critic whose intellectual and moral presence has been instrumental in the dynamic (re)definitions of the discipline of literary studies for the past five decades. The interviews cover both his life and the development of his thought in poetics and pedagogics,  and in ethics and politics as well. Reading Inside Out is the perfect companion to Miller’s many books, a lucid introduction to his thought, and a comprehensive commentary on Miller’’s critical themes.

“Literature has no greater champion than J. Hillis Miller: throughout his long career, he has engaged with literary works in all genres from many periods, always with an eye to what makes them both challenging and rewarding, and in doing so he has drawn on the best of the theoretical movements of the past half-century. But his literary studies are only part of a wider concern with the values of institutions and of society more broadly. Covering all these aspects of Miller’s achievements, this excellent collection of interviews shows him at his searching, wise, and readable best.”

Derek Attridge, Professor of English, University of York; Fellow, British Academy

“Radical, raconteur, reader extraordinaire: so many J. Hillis Millers to enjoy and learn from across many years of his conversations with interested interlocutors. There’s a provocative charm on every page of these interviews, but the changing questions and preoccupations also add up to a rich and lucid history of literary and critical thinking over the past half century.””

Rachel Bowlby, Professor of Comparative Literature and English, University College London;                                       Fellow, British Academy