Literary theory Books

Book SynopsisFiction is generally understood to be a fascinating, yet somehow deficient affair, merely derivative of reality. What if we could, instead, come up with an affirmative approach that takes stories seriously in their capacity to bring forth a substance of their own? Iconic texts such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and its numerous adaptations stubbornly resist our attempts to classify them as mere representations of reality. Friederike Danebrock shows how these texts insist that we take them seriously as agents and interlocutors in our world- and culture-making activities. Drawing on this analysis, she develops a theory of narrative fiction as a generative practice.

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Book SynopsisBy bringing in different degrees of circulation in different regions and languages, this collection shows that while literary centers do exist in what Pascale Casanova calls the international literary space, their power does not operate unilaterally and modes of intercultural circulation do exist beyond their control. The title World Literature in Motion highlights the fact that world literature is always already the product of certain modes of conceptual and material mobility and mediation.

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Book SynopsisA good biography is a well-staged illusion. It creates - on paper - a vivid, rounded, and immediate sense of lived life. In contrast to purely fictional forms, biography writing does not allow total freedom to the biographer in the creative act. Ideally, a biography's backbone is formed by accurate historical facts. But its soul lies elsewhere. Since the concern is life, something more is needed: Nothing dry, cold or dead, but a vibrant impression of life that is left in the air after one turns over the last page. But how does a biographer do it? The way a biographer creates a subject is largely dictated by the historical distance between them. There are three types of distance in biographical writing: First, where the biographer and the subject personally know one another; second, where the biographer is a near contemporary of the subject; and third, where biographer and subject are distinctly separated, in some cases, by hundreds of years. This study explores how some of the most accomplished biographers manage to recreate life" across time and space. She closely examines Samuel Johnson's Life of Mr. Richard Savage, James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians, Michael Holroyd's Lytton Strachey, Park Honan's Jane Austen, and Andrew Motion's Keats.Trade Review"Tekcan's initial question-asking what it is that brings life writing to life -- is an interesting one, and her case studies yield some glancing insights, particularly in the discussion of more recent biographies." -- Biography 34.4Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1. Eating and Drinking with the Subject: Johnson's Life of Savage and Boswell's Life of Johnson 2. Judas and the Frog Prince: Strachey's Eminent Victorians and Holroyd's Lytton Strachey 3. Too Far for Comfort: Honan's Jane Austen, Her Life and Motion's Keats Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis edited volume, Toni Morrison: Literary Perspectives and Critical Interpretations, presents insightful critiques and commentaries by renowned academicians, researchers and scholars.

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Book SynopsisDanish literature from 1000 to 1900 is an account of Danish literature from the earliest period to the modern breakthrough of the late 19th century. Together with Danish literature in the 20th and the early 21st century this volume forms a complete history of Danish-language literature. At a time when information about individual authors and their works is only a quick click away and constantly updated, it can be an advantage to gather together this myriad of information and place it in coherent order particularly for readers unable to read Danish. That is the basis for these two volumes on Danish literature. They provide a framework within which the richness of information about authors and their works can be appreciated as forming a rich, connected and connecting narrative. Danish Literature from 1000 to 1900 is an inclusive and networked literary history that does not turn literary texts into mute museum pieces. The volume includes an analysis of the world famous Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus of the middle ages as well as a presentation of the renaissance masterpiece, Memoirs, by Leonora Christina Ulfeldt. The writings of the leading enlightenment author, Ludvig Holberg, are also introduced and the romanticist novelist Thomasine Gyllembourg, the fairytale author Hans Christian Andersen and the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard are key figures of the historic exposition. The volume is concluded by an introduction to the authors of the modern breakthrough. Central international contributions to literary studies and extensive discussion on periodization is included in Danish Literature from 1000 to 1900 so that readers may relate this periodization to the periodization of other national literatures. The volume also includes chronological overviews and notes on literary studies discussion of historiography and influential recent research and approaches to Danish literature.

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Book SynopsisCovering the history of medieval and early modern India, from the eighth to the eighteenth centuries, this volume is part of a new series of collections of essays publishing current research on all aspects of polity, society, economy, religion and culture. The thematically organized volumes will particularly serve as a platform for younger scholars to showcase their new research and, thus, reflect current thrusts in the study of the period. Established experts in their specialized fields are also being invited to share their work and provide perspectives. The geographical limits will be historic India, roughly corresponding to modern South Asia and the adjoining regions.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first volume to consistently examine Soviet engagement with world literature from multiple institutional and disciplinary perspectives: intellectual history, literary history and theory, comparative literature, translation studies, diaspora studies. Its emphasis is on the lessons one could learn from the Soviet attention to world literature; as such, the present volume makes a significant contribution to current debates on world literature beyond the field of Slavic and East European Studies and foregrounds the need to think of world literature pluralistically, in a manner that is not restricted by the agendas of Anglophone academe.Trade Review"World Literature in the Soviet Union demonstrates persuasively that World Literature can be productively conceptualised and analysed as a set of discrete grand projects, each with its own historically and culturally specific institutional and ideological underpinnings. The volume explores in both breadth and depth how Soviet projects of World Literature developed in tandem with the evolution of the Soviet Union’s more general politico-cultural positioning in the world. It at the same time provides important insights into the role that the idea of World Literature played in Soviet constructions of both internationalism and multiculturalism."— Professor Andy Byford, Durham UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionGalin Tihanov, Rossen Djagalov, Anne Lounsbery 1. World Literature in the Soviet Union: Infrastructure and Ideological HorizonsGalin Tihanov 2. On the Worldliness of Russian LiteratureAnne Lounsbery 3. Armenian Literature as World Literature: Phases of Shaping it in the Pre-Soviet and Stalinist ContextsSusanne Frank 4. The Roles of "Form" and "Content" in World Literature as Discussed by Viktor Shklovsky in His Writings of the Immediately Post-Revolutionary Years Katerina Clark 5. “The Treasure Trove of World Literature”: Shaping the Concept of World Literature in Post-Revolutionary Russia Maria Khotimsky 6. The Birth of New out of Old: Translation in Early Soviet HistorySergey Tyulenev 7. International Literature: A Multi-Language Soviet Journal as a Model of “World Literature” of the Mid-1930s USSR Elena Ostrovskaya, Elena Zemskova, Evgeniia Belskaia, Georgii Korotkov 8. Translating China into International Literature: Stalin-Era World Literature Beyond the WestEdward Tyerman 9. World Literature and Ideology: The Case of Socialist RealismSchamma Schahadat 10. Premature Postcolonialists: The Afro-Asian Writers’ Association (1958–1991) and Its Literary Field Rossen Djagalov 11. Can “Worldliness” Be Inscribed into the Literary Text?: Russian Diasporic Writing in the Context of World Literature Maria Rubins ContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisWhat happens when we can’t joke about some of the most important stuff in life?In a 2019 study, 40% of people reported censoring themselves out of fear that voicing their views would alienate them from the people they care about most. Those people should probably not read this book in public.In You Can’t Joke About That, Kat Timpf shows why much of the way we talk about sensitive subjects is wrong. We’ve created all the wrong rules. We push ourselves into unnecessary conflicts when we should feel like we’re all in this together. When someone says “you can’t joke about that,” what they really mean is “this is a subject that makes people sad or angry.”Hilariously and movingly, Timpf argues that those subjects are actually the most important to joke about. She shows us we can find healing through humor regarding things you probably don''t want to bring up in polite conversation, like traumatic break-ups, cancer, being broke, Dave Chappelle, rape jokes, aging, ostomy bags, religion, body image, dead moms, religion, the lab leak theory, transgender swimmers, gushing wounds, campus censorship, and bad Christmas presents.  This book is Kat Timpf with her hair down, except since hers is mostly extensions, this book is Kat Timpf with her hair out. Read it because you want to get to know her better. Read it because it’s the best book on free speech and comedy in a generation. Read it because you want to laugh out loud… even at the kind of stuff we’re afraid to say out loud. Just read it, and you’ll be glad you did.

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Book SynopsisThe Age of Silver advances a horizontal method of comparative literature and applies this approach to analyze the multiple emergences of early realism and novelistic modernity in Eastern and Western cultural spheres from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Naming this era of economic globalization the Age of Silver, Ning Ma emphasizes the bullion flow from South America and Japan to China through international commerce, and argues that the resultant transcontinental monetary and commercial co-evolutions stimulated analogous socioeconomic shifts and emergent novelistic realisms. The main texts addressed within include The Plum in the Golden Vase (China), Don Quixote (Spain), The Life of an Amorous Man (Japan), and Robinson Crusoe (England). These Eastern and Western narratives indicate from their own geographical vantage points commercial expansions'' stimulation of social mobility and larger processes of cultural destabilization. Their realist tendencies are underlain with politically critical functions and connote heteroglossic national imaginaries. This horizontal argument realigns novelistic modernity with a multipolar global context and reestablishes commensurabilities between Eastern and Western literary histories. The Age of Silver challenges the unilateral equation between globalization and modernity with westernization, and foregrounds a polycentric mode of global early modernity for pluralizing the genealogy of world literature and historical transcultural relations.Table of ContentsIntroduction. Toward Horizontal Comparisons Chapter 1. Global Silver, Local Novels Chapter 2. Along the Grand Canal: The Lord of Silver in The Plum in the Golden Vase Chapter 3. La Mancha to the Indies: Romance and Materiality of the Empire in Don Quixote Chapter 4. Out of Nagasaki: To the End of the Floating World Chapter 5. Caribbean to China: Crusoe's Two Adventures Epilogue: The Transcivilizational Feminine and World Literature Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe Anatomy of Myth is a comprehensive study of the different methods of interpreting myths developed by the Greeks, adopted by the Romans, and eventually passed on to Jewish and Christian interpreters of the Bible. Greek thinkers only rarely saw myth as a category of thought in its own right. Most often they viewed myths as the creation of poets, or else as an ancient revelation that had been corrupted by them. In the first instance, critics attempted to find in the intention of the authors some deeper truth, whether physical or spiritual; in the second, they deemed it necessary to clear away poetic falsehoods in order to recapture an ancient revelation. Parallel to the philosophical critiques were the efforts of early historians to explain myths as exaggerated history; myths could be purified by logos (reason) and rendered believable. Practically all of these early methods could be lumped under the term allegory--to intend something different from what one expressed. Only occasionallTrade ReviewThe value of Herren's book should not be underestimated, and I unequivocally recommend it to anyone interested in the history of myth and myth criticism. It is easy and enjoyable to read and filled with a fascinating array of information, making connections that shape into clear and compelling arguments. Tracing different threads through centuries of discussion leaves the reader a dynamic overview of not only contributions of classical authors to ways of interpreting or anatomizing myths, but also how these relate to one another, evolve over time, and link to the cultures and historical contexts in which they emerged and progressed. * Folklore *An insightful and accessible analytical overview that so many of us need... The value of Herren's book should not be underestimated, and I unequivocally recommend it to anyone interested in the history of myth and myth criticism. It is easy and enjoyable to read and filled with a fascinating array of information, making connections that shape into clear and compelling arguments. * Folklore *This book is a superb presentation of approaches to Greek myth from the Presocratics down to the Church Fathers Together with a twenty-page glossary, this book is the most useful overview of myth in the ancient world that I have ever read, and I have read many overviews. * Robert A. Segal, Reading Religion *Summing Up: Optional. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers. * P. E. Ojennus, CHOICE *This book is a superb presentation of approaches to Greek myth from the Presocratics down to the Church Fathers. Michael Herren is Distinguished Research Professor of Classics Emeritus at York University. He offers incisive summaries of Homer and Hesiod, who together formed the Greek equivalent of the Bible. But even more, he focuses on ancient interpreters of Homer and Hesiod and of the cosmos in general. As he points out, many other ancient peoples had their own myths, but they did not have their own interpreters of them. Or at least those interpretations do not survive. * Robert A. Segal, Reading Religion *[Herren] claims to have intended his book for students, including those who have no classical knowledge, and it is indeed blissfully free from academic grandstanding or scholarly jargon. The sweep of the story is wide, and within the summary above there are many enjoyable digressions, such as a chapter on ancient historians discussing such things as the historicity of the Trojan War. A dense subject is made an easy read. But H. has also a serious purpose. He is concerned about the dangers of religious fundamentalism arising from the literalist interpretation of sacred books. His thesis is that the adoption by the Fathers of Greek methods on interpretation, including allegory, enabled the Church to avoid the fundamentalist trap as far as the Renaissance, and that the activity of interpreting authoritative texts, and the freedom to do so, has helped to create 'the society that we currently enjoy'. * Colin McDonald, Classics For All *Building on decades of classroom experience and scholarly research, Herren has produced a lively and original book that traces the evolution of classical myth from its archaic Greek origins down to the fifth C. CE. Both the teacher's irreverent and provocative voice and the scholar's sober one explain how myths are philosophized, allegorized, historicized, and invented. Herren gives Neoplatonic and Christian exegetes and the Jewish and Christian Bible their due. This thoughtful book links the history of myth to timeless and important intellectual issues such as monotheism, atheism, and modern debates on censorship, pornography, and violence."-Danuta Shanzer, University of ViennaHerren's goal is to shed light on how ancient Greek developments paved the way for the 'open, pluralistic society' of the West today. Hence the main target of the book is a highly topical one: the 'persistence and growth of fundamentalist belief systems in our own times,' in counterpoint with secular forms of modern intellectual engagement with the biggest questions posed by life, and the 'new phenomenon' of a proselytizing atheism. The book resists obvious comparison or competitors, and the length, style, and general tone will work very well with undergraduates especially. A strong recommendation."-John Magee, University of TorontoTable of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1: The Paradigm of the Poets Chapter 2: What Makes a Work Authoritative? Chapter 3: Physis - Redefining the Gods Chapter 4: Flirting with Atheism Chapter 5: Attacking Poetry Chapter 6: The Beginnings of Allegory Chapter 7: Finding History in Myth Chapter 8: Theos - Rediscovering God Chapter 9: The Growth of Allegory Chapter 10: Saving the Poets without Allegory Chapter 11: From Allegory to Symbolism Chapter 12: Greek Exegesis and Judaeo-Christian Books Reflection Bibliography Glossarial Index

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Book SynopsisThis revolutionary study presents new facts and an original theory about the source of the thought and literature which are termed `modern''.Using fifty-one new translations of sonnets from four languages spanning more than seven centuries, Oppenheimer argues that modern thought and literature were born with the invention of the sonnet in thirteenth-century Italy. In revealing the sonnet as the first lyric form since the fall of the Roman Empire meant not for music or performance but for silent reading, the book demonstrates that the sonnet was the first modern literary form deliberately intended to portray the self in conflict and to explore self-consciousness.Professor Oppenheimer traces the influences of the sonnet, as invented by Giacomo da Lentino, combining historical fact with the history of ideas and literary criticism. He illustrates, in bilingual format, the sonnet''s growing appeal and variety during the centuries that followed, with translations from Italian, German, FrenchTrade Review'Paul Oppenheimer has written a learned, well-tempered and fascinating book about the sonnet. This book is a cunningly constructed homage to its ostensible subject. Oppenheimer, the poet and the scholar, join hands to translate a book and a sonnet.' Anthony Rudolf, Chapman 60'

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Book SynopsisThis volume brings together Martha Nussbaum''s published papers, some revised for this collection, on the relationship between literature and philosophy, especially moral philosophy. It also includes two new essays and a substantial Introduction.The papers, many of them previously not readily available to non-specialist readers, explore such fundamental issues as the relationship between style and content in the exploration of ethical questions; the nature of ethical attention and ethical knowledge and their relationship to written forms and style; and the role of the emotions in deliberation and self-knowledge. The author investigates and defends a conception of ethical understanding which involves emotional as well as intellectual activity, and which gives a certain type of priority to the perception of particular people and situations rather than to abstract rule.Trade ReviewThe lucid and penetrating essays in Love's Knowledge demonstrate that Martha Nussbaum is the finest philosophic mind of her generation. * Philosophy and Literature *one of the most original books published [in 1991], a hugely stimulating read, which returns us with thoughts refreshed to some of our best-loved authors and brings philosophy back to earth in the process * Mark Archer, Observer *Table of Contents1: Introduction: Form and Content, Philosophy and Literature 2: The Discernment of Perception: An Aristotelian Conception of Private and Public Rationality 3: Plato on Commensurability and Desire 4: Flawed Crystals: James's The Golden Bowl and Literature as Moral Philosophy 5: "Finely Aware and Richly Responsible": Literature and the Moral Imagination 6: Perceptive Equilibrium: Literary Theory and Ethical Theory 7: Perception and Revolution: The Princess Casamassima and the Political Imagination 8: Sophistry About Conventions 9: Reading for Life 10: Fictions of the Soul 11: Love's Knowledge 12: Narrative Emotions: Beckett's Geneology of Love 13: Love and the Individual: Romantic Rightness and Platonic Aspiration 14: Steerforth's Arm: Love and the Moral Point of View 15: Transcending Humanity

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Book SynopsisIn an era when much of what passes for debate is merely moral posturing - traditional family values versus the cultural elite, free speech versus censorship - the terms `liberal'' and `politically correct'', are used with as much dismissive scorn by the right as `reactionary'' and `fascist'' are by the left.In There''s No Such Thing as Free Speech, Fish takes aim at the ideological gridlock paralyzing academic and political exchange in the nineties. In his witty, accessible dissections of the swirling controversies over multiculturalism, affirmative action, canon revision, hate speech, and legal reform, he takes both the left and the right equally to task. This book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the outcome of America''s cultural wars.Trade ReviewMr Fish deflates anointed truths with joyful abandon, and he is at his best in exposing the often baleful effects wrought by mean-spirited defenders of traditional values * The New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisMark Turner makes the revolutionary claim that the basic issue for cognitive science is the nature of literary thinking. Using tools of modern linguistics, the recent work of neuroscientists, and literary masterpieces from Shakespeare, Homer, and Dante, Turner explains how story and projection are fundamental to everyday thought.Trade ReviewAn incredibly rich overview of Turner's newest ideas, offering scholars in both the humanities and cognitive sciences an excellent tutorial on the literary mind. * Raymond Gibbs, Jr., Professor of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz *Outstanding. This book will be a marvellous way for people to get into cognitive science. * Suzanne E. Kemmer, Professor of Linguistics, Rice University *Turner's forceful book starts by showing how we use storying and metaphor to understand everything from pouring a cup of coffee to Proust. It ends with the splendidly bold claim that this storying, literary mind comes first, before all other kinds of thought, even language itself. Adventurous and convincing, Turner's work launches a new understanding, not only of literature, but of what it is to have a human brain. To read it is to think about thinking in a way you never have. * Norman N. Holland, Marston-Milbauer Professor of English, University of Florida *A garden of many delights to be enjoyed by literary and scientific minds? An elegant bridge between two worlds? Other mixed (blended) metaphors apply to this book provided they tell the reader that this is an intelligent text, equally valuable to literary scholars and cognitive scientists. * Antonio R. Damasio, Professor of Neurology, University of Iowa, and author of "Descartes' Error" *Table of Contents1: Bedtime with Shahrazad 2: Human Meaning 3: Body Action 4: Figured Tales 5: Creative Blends 6: Many Spaces 7: Single Lives 8: Language Notes Further Reading on Image Schemas Index

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Book SynopsisFor the past forty years The Nature of Narrative has been a seminal work for literary students, teachers, writers, and scholars. Countering the tendency to view the novel as the paradigm case of literary narrative, authors Robert Scholes and Robert Kellogg in the original edition offered a compelling history of the genre narrative from antiquity to the twentieth-century, even as they carried out their main task of describing and analyzing the nature of narrative's main elements: meaning, character, plot, and point of view. Their history emphasized the broad sweep of literary narrative from ancient times to the contemporary period, and it included a chapter on the oral heritage of written narrative and an appendix on the interior monologue in ancient texts. The fortieth anniversary edition of this groundbreaking work has been revised and expanded to include a new preface and a lengthy chapter on developments in narrative theory since 1966 by James Phelan. This chapter describes the pTrade ReviewPraise for the previous edition of The Nature of Narrative "A pioneer venture into one of the richest areas in literature, this volume is worthy of comparison with the classic studies of Harry Levin and René Wellek * Modern Language Journal "Attempts to put the novel in its place, to see it as only one of a number of narrative possibilities. The authors survey all kinds of narrative forms, written and unwritten from almost all literatures, with learning and insight. Also the traditional subjects of the theory of the novel, character, type, realism, etc., are illuminated from this wider international perspective."-René Wellek, Sterling Professor of Comparative Literature, Yale University *Table of ContentsPREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION BY ROBERT SCHOLES ; PREFACE BY JAMES PHELAN ; 1. The Narrative Tradition ; 2. The Oral Heritage of Written Narrative ; 3. The Classical Heritage of Modern Narrative ; 4. Meaning in Narrative ; 5. Character in Narrative ; 6. Plot in Narrative ; 7. Point of View in Narrative ; 8. Narrative Theory, 1966-2006: A Narrative ; WORKS CITED ; APPENDIX ; NOTES ; INDEX

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Book SynopsisFor the past forty years The Nature of Narrative has been a seminal work for literary students, teachers, writers, and scholars. Countering the tendency to view the novel as the paradigm case of literary narrative, authors Robert Scholes and Robert Kellogg in the original edition offered a compelling history of the genre narrative from antiquity to the twentieth-century, even as they carried out their main task of describing and analyzing the nature of narrative's main elements: meaning, character, plot, and point of view. Their history emphasized the broad sweep of literary narrative from ancient times to the contemporary period, and it included a chapter on the oral heritage of written narrative and an appendix on the interior monologue in ancient texts. The fortieth anniversary edition of this groundbreaking work has been revised and expanded to include a new preface and a lengthy chapter on developments in narrative theory since 1966 by James Phelan. This chapter describes the pTrade ReviewA pioneer venture into one of the richest areas in literature, this volume is worthy of comparison with the classic studies of Harry Levin and René Wellek. * Modern Language Journal (review from previous edition) *Attempts to put the novel in its place, to see it as only one of a number of narrative possibilities. The authors survey all kinds of narrative forms, written and unwritten from almost all literatures, with learning and insight. Also the traditional subjects of the theory of the novel, character, type, realism, etc., are illuminated from this wider international perspective. * René Wellek, Sterling Professor of Comparative Literature, Yale University *Table of ContentsPreface to the Second Edition by Robert Scholes Preface by James Phelan 1: The Narrative Tradition 2: The Oral Heritage of Written Narrative 3: The Classical Heritage of Modern Narrative 4: Meaning in Narrative 5: Character in Narrative 6: Plot in Narrative 7: Point of View in Narrative 8: Narrative Theory, 1966-2006: A Narrative Works Cited Appendix Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe twelve essays by Kendall Walton in this volume address a broad range of issues concerning the arts. Walton introduces an innovative account of aesthetic value, and explores relations between aesthetic value and values of other kinds. His classic ''Categories of Art'' is included, as is ''Transparent Pictures'', his controversial account of what is special about photographs. A new essay investigates the fact that still pictures are still, although some of them depict motion. New postscripts have been added to several of the reprinted essays.Trade ReviewThe collection is indeed a joy to read... Each essay gives the tangible impression hearing an outstanding philosopher in direct engagement with the issues... For all the freshness and directness of style, there is an extraordinary level of subtle nuance and fine distinction... It is a principal conclusion of the opening chapter, which gives the collection its title, that a distinctive mark of aesthetic pleasure is the fact we take pleasure, not just in the object itself, but also in our admiration for the object. Just such a pleasure will be occasioned by this admirable volume. Marvelous indeed. * Ian Ground, Philosophy *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: Aesthetic and Moral Values 1: "How Marvelous": Toward a Theory of Aesthetic Value Postscripts to "How Marvelous!" 2: The Test of Time 3: Morals in Fiction and Fictional Morality 4: On the (So-Called) Puzzle of Imaginative Resistance Part II: Pictures and Photographs 5: Pictures & Hobby Horses: Make-Believe Beyond Childhood 6: Transparent Pictures: On the Nature of Photographic Realism Postscripts to "Transparent Pictures" 7: On Pictures & Photographs: Objections Answered 8: Seeing In and Seeing Fictionally 9: Depiction, Perception, & Imagination: Responses to Richard Wollheim 10: Experiencing Still Photographs: What Do You See and How Long Do You See It? Part III: Categories and Styles 11: Categories of Art 12: Style and the Products and Processes of Art

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Book SynopsisIs literary biography widely read for popular, "prurient" reasons, or for "reputable" intellectual reasons? Leading critics and professional biographers here attempt to answer this and other questions by examining the biographies of such authors as Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley and others.Trade Review`sprightly collection of essays' Sunday Times`deftly edited ... the collection as a whole is refreshingly free from the excesses of lit-crit gobbledegook.' Literary Review`excellent book of essays' New Statesman and Society'a most attractive seminar on the art, or craft, of telling the story of story-tellers' existences' Valentine Cunningham, The Observer'the best of these writers highlight what fun biography can be, and so shed light on a fascinating cultural phenomenon' Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times'sprightly collection of essays on the art of biography' Anthony Quinn, Sunday Times'in this excellent book of essays 17 important biographers wrestle with their own practice' Kathryn Hughes, New Statesman & Society'contains some excellent essays' Hilary Spurling, Daily Telegraph...excellent book...The Art of Literary Biography offers an intriguing look at variety within the genre. * IsisKeith Peirson Scene Dec. 1995 *it is of eminent appeal not only to academics and students of literature, formal or not, but should be must reading for journalists, essayists, writers and serious readers of all kinds. As a handbook on the theory of writing biographies, it is essential and one of the best books on the subject we have seen to date. * Scene *this collection is notable in general for its cheerful indifference to theory ... There is a widespread awareness that most theoretical approaches do not describe or illuminate what biographers do ... lively collection. * Peter Hollindale, University of York, Review of English Studies, Vol. XLVIII, No. 189, Feb '97 *an agreeable collection of essays ... with contributions from many distinguished practitioners ... This is an excellent collection which forces us to ponder the implications of the word 'art' in its title; for if biography can be so many kinds of art, what identity is it left with itself? * English Studies *

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Book SynopsisTo speak of ''thinking with literature'' is to make the assumption that literature (in the broadest sense) is neither a side-show nor a side-issue in human cultures: it belongs to the spectrum of imaginative modes that includes both philosophical and scientific thought. Whether one regards it as a practice or as an archive, literature is highly pervasive, robust, enduring, and pregnant with values. Thinking with Literature argues that what it affords above all is a way of thinking, whether for writer, reader, or critic. Literature constitutes one of the prime instruments of cultural improvisation; it is the embodiment of a powerful, inventive, and ever-changing cognitive agency. As such, it invites a cognitive mode of criticism, one which asserts the priority of the individual literary work as a unique product of human cognition. In this book, discussions of topics, arguments, and hypotheses from the cognitive sciences, philosophy, and the theory of communication are woven into the fabTrade ReviewTerence Cave, in Thinking with Literature ... goes inside our minds to map out a new "cognitive approach to literary studies". * Hal Jensen, Summer Books selection 2016, Times Literary Supplement *the book offers many valuable insights about human cognition and embodiment * British Society of Literature and Science *Table of ContentsPreface 1: Openings 2: Cognitive conversations 3: The balloon, the shed, and the bees 4: Literary affordances: culture as second nature 5: The balloon of the mind: literary imaginations 6: Cognitive figures 7: Cognitive mimesis: the cliff and the ballroom 8: The posture of reading: Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim 9: Literary values in a cognitive perspective A virtual manifesto for cognitive literary studies

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Book SynopsisThe Other Virgil tells the story of how a classic like the Aeneid can say different things to different people. As a school text it was generally taught to support the values and ideals of a succession of postclassical societies, but between 1500 and 1800 a number of unusually sensitive readers responded to cues in the text that call into question what the poem appears to be supporting. This book focuses on the literary works written by these readers, to show how they used the Aeneid as a model for poems that probed and challenged the dominant values of their society, just as Virgil had done centuries before. Some of these poems are not as well known today as they should be, but others, like Milton''s Paradise Lost and Shakespeare''s The Tempest, are; in the latter case, the poems can be understood in new ways once their relationship to the ''other Virgil'' is made clear.Trade Reviewimportant, timely and well-written * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *The book [is] one which any student of Virgil will find durable valuableTable of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Marginalization ; 2. Colonization ; 3. Revolution ; Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThe Oxford Handbooks series is a major new initiative in academic publishing. Each volume offers an authoritative and up-to-date survey of original research in a particular subject area. Specially commissioned essays from leading figures in the discipline give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates. Oxford Handbooks provide scholars and graduate students with compelling new perspectives upon a wide range of subjects in the humanities and social sciences. The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics brings the authority, liveliness, and multi-disciplinary scope of the Handbook series to the area where philosophy meets the arts. Jerrold Levinson has assembled a hugely impressive range of talent to contribute 48 brand-new essays, making this the most comprehensive guide available to the theory, application, history, and future of the field. This Handbook will be invaluable to academics and students across philosophy and all branches of the arts, both as the reference work of Trade Reviewthe philosophy of emotion as a whole is considerably richer as a result of this comprehensive, skilfully edited collection of high-quality philosophical work ... essential reading for those with an interest in the emotions * Michael Brady, British Journal of Aesthetics *This Handbook is a timely response to a growing interest in aesthetics ... it covers a good deal of ground, provides much interesting information and abounds in interesting quotations. * Peter Rickman, Philosophy Now *Levinson has achieved his intention to provide a collection from which both the professional philosopher and the enthusiastic non-professional can derive instruction and pleasure. . . . he has brought together many of the key practitioners in the field of philosophical aesthetics and this is reflected in the depth of subjects and the lucid quality of the writing. * British Journal of Aesthetics *Table of ContentsPreface ; 1. Philosophical Aesthetics: an Overview ; 2. History of Modern Aesthetics ; 3. Aesthetic Realism 1 ; 4. Aesthetic Realism 2 ; 5. Aesthetic Experience ; 6. Beauty ; 7. Aesthetics of Nature ; 8. Definition of Art ; 9. Ontology of Art ; 10. Medium in Art ; 11. Representation in Art ; 12. Expression in Art ; 13. Style in Art ; 14. Creativity in Art ; 15. Authenticity in Art ; 16. Intention in Art ; 17. Interpretation in Art ; 18. Value in Art ; 19. Humour ; 20. Metaphor ; 21. Fiction ; 22. Narrative ; 23. Tragedy ; 24. Art and Emotion ; 25. Art and Knowledge ; 26. Art and Morality ; 27. Art and Politics ; 28. Music ; 29. Painting ; 30. Literature ; 31. Architecture ; 32. Sculpture ; 33. Dance ; 34. Theatre ; 35. Poetry ; 36. Photography ; 37. Film ; 38. Feminist Aesthetics ; 39. Environmental Aesthetics ; 40. Comparative Aesthetics ; 41. Aesthetics and Evolutionary Psychology ; 42. Aesthetics and Cognitive Science ; 43. Aesthetics and Ethics ; 44. Aesthetics of Popular Art ; 45. Aesthetics of the Avant-Garde ; 46. Aesthetics of the Everyday ; 47. Aesthetics and Postmodernism ; 48. Aesthetics and Cultural Studies

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Book SynopsisA series of essays exploring aspects of the literary and intellectual culture of Britain from the early twentieth century to the present, focussing on critics and historians who wrote for a non-specialist readership, and on the periodicals and other genres through which they attempted to reach that readership.Trade ReviewCollini is the reviewer par excellence of our age. * David Stack, English Historical Review. *These chapters are erudite, beautifully written, and impressive in their historical breadth. * English *Collini...writes with lively wit and insight. Penetrating, down-to-earth, often hilarious, these essays are perfect brain food * Christopher Hirst, The Independent *The chapters are erudite, beautifully written, and impressive in their historical breadth... this book... represents clear proof that had he written nothing else, Collini would still be one of the few academics reviewing today whose work deserves reprinting in collected form. * Mary Hammond, English *Books do furnish a mind, and in a form that bailiffs cannot repossess. Collini is that rare bird, a don who can be read with pleasure by the non-specialist reader, to whom this book is addressed. * Michael Barber, Books of the Year, The Tablet *Table of ContentsPART ONE: WRITING LIVES ; 1. On not getting on with it: the criticism of Cyril Connolly ; 2. Rolling it out: V. S. Pritchett's writing life ; 3. The Great Seer: Aldous Huxley's visions ; 4. Performance: the critical authority of Rebecca West ; 5. Man of letters as hero: the energy of Edmund Wilson ; 6. Plain speaking: the lives of George Orwell ; 7. Believing in oneself: the career of Stephen Spender ; 8. Smacking: the letters of William Empson ; 9. Disappointment: A. L. Rowse in his diaries ; 10. Believing in England: Arthur Bryant, historian as man of letters ; 11. Believing in history: Herbert Butterfield, Christian and Whig ; 12. The intellectual as realist: the puzzling career of E. H. Carr ; 13. Enduring passion: E. H. Thompson's reputation ; 14. Olympian universalism: Perry Anderson as essayist ; 15. Hegel in green wellies: Roger Scruton's England ; PART TWO: READING MATTERS ; 16. 'The Great Age': the idealizing of Victorian culture ; 17. Always dying: the idea of the general periodical ; 18. Boomster and the Quack: the author as celebrity ; 19. Private reading: the autodidact public ; 20. The completest mode: the literary critic as hero ; 21. From deference to diversity: 'culture' in Britain 1945-2000 ; 22. Well connected: biography and intellectual elites ; 23. National lives: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ; 24. HiEdBiz: universities and their publics ; References ; Acknowledgements ; Index

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Book SynopsisMedieval Grammar and Rhetoric: Language Arts and Literary Theory, AD 300-1475 contributes to two fields, the history of the language arts and the history of literary theory. It brings together essential sources in the disciplines of grammar and rhetoric which were used to understand literary form and language and teach literary composition. Grammar and rhetoric, the language disciplines, formed the basis of any education from antiquity through the Middle Ages, no matter what future career a student would want to pursue. Because literature was also the subject matter of grammatical teaching, and because rhetorical teaching gave great attention to literary form, these were also the disciplines that would prepare students for an understanding of literary language and form. These arts constituted the abiding theoretical toolbox for anyone engaged in a life of letters.The book brings together more than fifty primary texts from the medieval history of grammar and rhetoric, well over half of Trade ReviewMonumental ... In their heroic labour of translation and scholarship, Copeland and Sluiter provide an entrée to the millennium of pedagogy that formed countless priests, monks, bishops, intellectuals, courtiers and secular bureaucrats. * Barbara Newman, London Review of Books *Table of ContentsPART 1 ARTS OF LANGUAGE, AD CA. 300-CA. 950; PART 2 DOSSIERS ON THE ABLATIVE ABSOLUTE AND ETYMOLOGY; PART 3 SCIENCES AND CURRICULA OF LANGUAGE IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY; SECTION 4 PEDAGOGIES OF GRAMMAR AND RHETORIC, CA. 1150-1280; PART 6 RECEPTIONS OF THE TRADITIONS: THE LANGUAGE ARTS AND POETICS IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES, CA. 1369-CA. 1475

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Book SynopsisIn this updated edition of his brief, engaging book, Robert J. Fogelin examines figures of speech that concern meaning-irony, hyperbole, understatement, similes, metaphors, and others-to show how they work and to explain their attraction.Table of ContentsPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION; PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION; A CONCLUDING NOTE 134; WORKS CITED 135-37; INDEX

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Book SynopsisDoes empathy felt while reading fiction actually cultivate a sense of connection, leading to altruistic actions on behalf of real others? Empathy and the Novel presents a comprehensive account of the relationships among novel reading, empathy, and altruism. Drawing on psychology, narrative theory, neuroscience, literary history, philosophy, and recent scholarship in discourse processing, Keen brings together resources and challenges for the literary study of empathy and the psychological study of fiction reading. Empathy robustly enters into affective responses to fiction, yet its role in shaping the behavior of emotional readers has been debated for three centuries. Keen surveys these debates and illustrates the techniques that invite empathetic response. She argues that the perception of fictiveness increases the likelihood of readers'' empathy in part by releasing them from the guarded responses necessitated by the demands of real others. Narrative empathy is a strategy and subject Trade ReviewEmpathy and the Novel belongs in the company of Peter Brooks' Reading for the Plot as an exciting and lucid reflection on empathy in the novel and on the empathetic effects of narrative on readers. Working at the cross-section of literature, neuroscience, and psychology, the book is a stunningly original, broad-ranging contribution to narrative ethics and to the meanings of emotion in literature, life, and human society. * Susan Stanford Friedman, Virginia Woolf Professor of English and Women's Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison *Table of ContentsCONTENTS; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; PREFACE; APPENDIX: A COLLECTION OF HYPOTHESES ABOUT NARRATIVE EMPATHY; WORK CITED; INDEX

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Book SynopsisThough literature is not a technology, the historical models literary scholars use to describe literary history owe a great deal to the languages of originality, novelty, progress, and invention that core of the idea of technological development. No real surprise: putting progress at the center of historicity is one of the things that makes us moderns. But if you think like a modern person then it''s very hard to ever really make a good case for why someone interested in the history of modern literary aesthetics ought to read the literature of the non-Western world.On Literary Worlds makes that case. It does so by rethinking from the ground up our concepts of literary history and progress, redescribing the history we know (or think we know) in a new language that requires us to be far more worldly and global in our arguments about literary change. To do, so, the book begins with an argument that literature is a world-creating activity. If that is true, then a number of scientific and eTrade Reviewhighly informed, provocative, and relevant to advanced readers engaged in the study of linguistics and world literature from the perspective of postmodern theory. * L. A. Brewer, Choice *This is cleary meant to be a thought-provoking book, and it succeeds in that ambition. * Alexander Beecroft, Clio: A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Preface ; Part I: Literary Worlds ; 1 The World and the Work of Art ; 2 Worlds, Literature, Systems ; 3 Literary Worlds ; 4 First Propositions ; 5 Aspects of Worldedness ; Part II: Modes of Modern Literature ; 6 The Planet and the World ; 7 Universalism as a World View ; 8 Realism, Romanticism, Modernism ; 9 Six Variables, Three Modes ; Part III: Ideologies of the Institution ; 10 Against Periodization ; 11 Institutional Problems Require Institutional Solutions ; Part IV: 4 Appendices ; 12 The Empty Quadrant ; 13 Medium and Form ; 14 On the History of Reality ; 15 Beyond the Modern

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Book SynopsisMARK CURRIE is Professor of Contemporary Literature at Queen Mary, University of London, UK. He is the author of Difference (Routledge, 2004) and About Time: Narrative Fiction and the Philosophy of Time (Edinburgh University Press, 2007). He has also published numerous articles on literary theory, narratology and contemporary fiction.

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Book SynopsisThis book rethinks the origins and nature of magical realism and provides detailed readings of key novels by Asturias, Carpentier, García Márquez, Rushdie, and Okri. Identifying two different strands of the mode, one characterized by faith, the other by irreverence, Warnes makes available a new vocabulary for the discussion of magical realism.Trade Review'Clearly in touch with the central voices in this dialogue...Warnes achieves the task for which he aims. In the process, he composes a text that will be useful to both novice and experienced critics of magical realism, as well as scholars of postcolonial and twentieth-century literature more broadly' - Kim Sasser, University of Edniburgh, UK, Interventions 'If you are planning (or already deliver) a final-year undergraduate or postgraduate course dedicated to magical realism be it within postcolonial studies, comparative literature, or Hispanic (Latin American) studies this book can provide a complete guide for the course...this is is a fresh evaluation of a well-scrutinized field, demonstrating that the loose genre of magical realism, despite having been approached from all angles and savaged in many a poorly researched undergraduate essay, still bears valuable substance for an understanding of the literature.' -William Rowlandson, University of Kent, UK, Modern Language Review 'This book is a good attempt to pull together the various and often contradictory strands of writing that can be categorized as magical realism and to see similarities amongst them, as well as weighing up and evaluating the range of theoretical work that has been published on magical realism. Furthermore, Warnes attempts to not only focus on the ludic qualities of this style of writing, which many other theorists have documented, but to argue for the realism of some of these works.' - Sara Mills, Sheffield Hallam University, UK, Safundi, THe Journal of South African and American Studies 'Among the recent publications which seek to offer yet another re-definition of magical realism, Christopher Warnes' study Magical Realism and the Postcolonial Novel: Between Faith and Irreverence accomplishes a double feat: while bringing into dialogue the development of both the term 'magical realism' and the mode itself, Warnes develops two paradigms representing two major structural and functional tendencies in magical realism...The result is not a redefinition of magical realism, but a thought provoking re-contextualization which offers a typology capable of spanning the varieties of the mode...the book is highly recommendable for anyone exploring magical realism, postcolonial literatures or hybrid genres.' -Jelena Kovacevic-Löckner, KULT onlineTable of ContentsPreface Introduction: Re-thinking Magical Realism Magical Realism as Postcolonial Romance Faith, Idealism and Irreverence in Asturias, Borges and Carpentier Magical Realism and Defamiliarisation in Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude Migrancy and Metamorphosis in Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses The African World View in Ben Okri's The Famished Road Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe nature and leading exponents of the structuralist movement are considered together with the structural poetics of fiction and drama.

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Book SynopsisAddresses philosophical questions concerning the relation between writing and architecture. This book draws together two cultural fantasies from different periods, and argues that architecture is a system of representation, with signifying possibilities that go beyond the symbolic.

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Book SynopsisThis text presents the author's theories about the meaning of literature and the shape of literary texts. Using examples from classic literary texts, as well as the Bible and television, it examines the relation of time to narrative form.

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Book Synopsis14 essays cover literary theory, criticism, and history, concepts of form and structure, the Baroque, Romanticism, realism, positivism, comparative literature, and American and twentieth-century criticism.

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