In Search of New Metaphors: An Interview with Linda Hutcheon

Abstract

Linda Hutcheon holds the rank of “University Professor” of English and Comparative at the University of Toronto. She is the author and co-author of 10 books on topics that range from postmodernism to interdisciplinary approaches to opera, but her constant interest has been in critical theory and its intersections with contemporary culture, especially Canadian and American culture. Her most recent books include Splitting Images: Contemporary Canadian Ironies (1991), Irony’s Edge: The Theory and Politics of Irony (1994) and, with Michael Hutcheon, M.D., Opera: Desire, Disease, Death (1996) and Bodily Charm: Living Opera (2000). From 1994-2000, with Mario J. Valdes, she directed two large comparative literary history projects (on Latin America and on East Central Europe) to be published by Oxford University Press. She currently sits on the board of 17 scholarly journals, and in 2000 was the President of the Modern Language Association of America. This interview was partially conducted on Monday, 17th July 2000 at 10:30 am. in Linda Hutcheon’s office at the University of Toronto, and then completed through various email exchanges.