One cannot read Postcomposition without reacting to its claims that the field of composition is in the doldrums, that the “conservatism” of
composition, most notable in its attachment to pedagogy, is ripe for attack. Dobrin writes “with the intent of violence” (2), and, although he qualifies this celebration of disruption, his goal of unsettling readers is apparent throughout. Dobrin’s polemical yet often playful argument
probes the borders of what is acceptable, launching highly theorized incursions into hallowed orthodoxies, especially composition’s prioritizing of teaching and administration, what is, in Dobrin’s terms, an indefensible fixation with subjects and subjectivity.
A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric