''Critical Inquiry'' is a quarterly

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...

in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

published by the

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

on behalf of the Department of English Language and Literature (

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

). While the topics and historical periods it covers are diverse, the journal is known as a long-standing, highly regarded

critical theory A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...

driven venue for interpretive scholarship, especially but not exclusively in literature and textual criticism. It was established in 1974 by

Wayne Booth Wayne Clayson Booth (February 22, 1921, in American Fork, Utah – October 10, 2005, in Chicago, Illinois) was an American literary critic. He was the George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in English Language & Literature and ...

, Arthur Heiserman, and

Sheldon Sacks Sheldon may refer to: * Sheldon (name), a given name and a surname, and a list of people with the name Places Australia * Sheldon, Queensland *Sheldon Forest, New South Wales United Kingdom *Sheldon, Derbyshire, England *Sheldon, Devon, England ...

. From 1978 to 2020, the journal was edited by W. J. T. Mitchell. Since June 2020 it is co-edited by Bill Brown and Frances Ferguson. The journal has been called "one of the best known and most influential journals in the world" by the ''Chicago Tribune'' and "academe's most prestigious theory journal" by the ''New York Times''.

References

External links

*
Journal page on publisher's website
University of Chicago Press academic journals Publications established in 1974 English-language journals Quarterly journals Critical theory {{humanities-journal-stub