Innovation and continuity in English studies

What the contributors to this volume commemorating the 50th anniversary of IAUPE demonstrate is above all the remarkable broadening of the field of English studies over the past few decades. New domains of enquiry have been added, while the traditional ones are not only still there but have been reinvigorated by new research paradigms. The result has been a marked increase in intra-disciplinary competition that reflects broader shifts in cultural understanding. Although quite a few of the contributions are concerned with precisely this latter dynamic, others demonstrate that the detailed working-out of more narrowly framed problem areas is crucial if English studies is to meet the challenges of the future.