William Vaios Spanos (31 December 1924 – 29 December 2017) was an American

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

. Spanos was a Distinguished Professor of English and

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

( SUNY) and was a founder and editor of the critical journal ''boundary 2''. His work draws heavily on the philosophical legacy of

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

, and while it does show the influence of the

deconstruction In philosophy, deconstruction is a loosely-defined set of approaches to understand the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from ...

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

and Paul de Man, Spanos's vocabulary and concepts remain closer to Heidegger's ''

Destruktion Martin Heidegger, the 20th century philosophy, 20th-century List of German-language philosophers, German philosopher, produced a large body of work that intended a profound change of direction for philosophy. Such was the depth of change that he fo ...

'' ("destruction") of

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

than to its philosophical successors. Spanos took a

post-modern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experi ...

approach to the West,

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

, and general interventionist foreign policy. He talked about a problem/solution mindset that America was in during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, and how all foreign policy now is still stuck in this framework. Spanos' work derives from philosophers ranging from Heidegger and

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche became the youngest pro ...

Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French historian of ideas and philosopher who was also an author, literary critic, political activist, and teacher. Foucault's theories primarily addressed the relationships be ...

Early life and education

Spanos was born in Newport, New Hampshire, the son of Greek immigrants. A veteran of World War II, he was captured during the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Die Wacht am Rhein, Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German Offensive (military), offensive Military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western ...

and taken a prisoner of war to Dresden, Germany. There, he survived the Allied firebombing of the city. It was a singular experience that he only recounted fifty years later in his autobiographical book ''In the Neighborhood of Zero''. Spanos completed his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

in 1964.

Selected works

Books

A Casebook on Existentialism * ''Repetitions: the Postmodern Occasion in Literature and Culture'', Baton Rouge:

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

Press, 1987 * ''The End of Education: Toward Posthumanism'', Minneapolis:

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Press, 1993 * ''Heidegger and Criticism: Retrieving the Cultural Politics of Destruction'', Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993 * ''The Errant Art of Moby-Dick: The Cold War, the Canon, and the Struggle for American Literary Studies'', Durham, NC:

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

Press, 1995 * ''America's Shadow: An Anatomy of Empire'',

Press, 1999 * ''The Legacy of Edward W. Said'',

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

Press, 2009 * ''In the Neighborhood of Zero'',

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Press, 2010

Papers

* 'Heidegger's Parmenides: Greek Modernity and the Classical Legacy', in Modern Greek Studies * 'Heidegger, Nazism, and the Repressive Hypothesis: The American Appropriation of the Question', in boundary 2, vol. 17, 1990 * 'Althusser's 'Problematic' in the Context of the Vietnam War: Towards a Spectral Politics', in Rethinking Marxism, vol. 10, no. 3, 1998 * 'Rethinking the Postmodernity of the Discourse of Postmodernism', in ''International Postmodernism: Theory and Literary Practice'', ed. Hans Bertens and Douwwe Fokkema, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1997

References

External links

His homepage at Binghamton University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spanos, William V. American literary critics Literary critics of English Binghamton University faculty State University of New York faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni American academics of English literature American people of Greek descent 2017 deaths 1924 births