Counter-Intelligence: Cold-War Criticism and Eighteenth-Century Studies

Abstract

As we shall see, the Stonecutter Controversy induced by Ellis' article and sustained by Clifford's pedagogy is a compelling instance of the distinction I am suggesting here, not least because its production and reproduction in mid-twentieth-century critical discourse can be situated at a closely watched checkpoint in Cold-War American culture. At this critical juncture professional practitioners in governmental and educational agencies of authority behave as if they were double agents: moving stealthily in and between 'intelligence communities,' they more or less reflexively misrecognize the information and operatives they exchange. Because penetration into such clandestine confederacies requires what professional in