Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature (“ISL”) is a peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of World Literature (Zhejiang University) and published by Knowledge Hub Publishing Company (Hong Kong) in collaboration with the International Conference for Ethical Literary Criticism. With a strategic focus on literary, ethical, historical and interdisciplinary approaches, ISL encourages dialogues between literature and other disciplines of humanities, aiming to establish an international platform for scholars to exchange their innovative views that stimulate critical interdisciplinary discussions. ISL publishes four issues each year in both Chinese and English.
This interview with J. Hillis Miller, the late renowned Yale literary critic, reflects on his intellectual journey across decades of literary scholarship. He explores the philosophical roots of deconstruction, tracing its ties to European thinkers like Heidegger, Husserl, and Rousseau, and its expansion through figures such as Derrida and Paul de Man. Miller discusses the institutional rise of deconstruction in the United States, particularly at Yale and Johns Hopkins, and its compatibility with the close-reading tradition of New Criticism. He offers personal insights into the academic and political dynamics of the MLA, the evolution of English departments, and his shift from phenomenological criticism to a language centered, deconstructive approach. The interview touches on the “hegemony” of English literature in American universities, issues of national identity in literary studies, and Miller’s reflections on criticism as an act of imaginative empathy. Intertwining memory and theory, the conversation presents a vivid intellectual history of late 20th-century literary criticism through the lens of one of its most influential practitioners. It will be 5 years since his death in 2021. This interview serves as a tender memory of this great literary figure.
