Description

Book Synopsis
This work argues that literature can be defined, and that in its definition its unique value can be discovered. It identifies literature ontologically as a sign of the preconceptual, as the "ostensive moment" that discloses neither the purpose nor the structure of existence.

Table of Contents
Introduction; Part I. Ostension: 1. Non-construction: history, structure, and the ostensive movement in literature; 2. One last theme: literature as insignificance; 3. The hum of literature: ostension in language; 4. The torturer's horse: what poems see in pictures; Part II. Non-Epiphany: 5. Clearings in the way: non-epiphany in Wordsworth; 6. Nil reconsidered: criticism, actuality, and 'To Autumn'; 7. Possession of the sublime, repression of insignificance; Part III. Return of the Same: 8. The absent dead: Wordsworth, Byron, and the epitaph; 9. Disposing of the body: the common sene of the romantic moment of dying; Conclusion; The ethics of suspending knowledge.

A Defense of Poetry Reflections on the Occasion

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    A Paperback / softback by Paul H. Fry

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      Publisher: Stanford University Press
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 01/07/1995
      ISBN13: 9780804725316, 978-0804725316
      ISBN10: 0804725314

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      This work argues that literature can be defined, and that in its definition its unique value can be discovered. It identifies literature ontologically as a sign of the preconceptual, as the "ostensive moment" that discloses neither the purpose nor the structure of existence.

      Table of Contents
      Introduction; Part I. Ostension: 1. Non-construction: history, structure, and the ostensive movement in literature; 2. One last theme: literature as insignificance; 3. The hum of literature: ostension in language; 4. The torturer's horse: what poems see in pictures; Part II. Non-Epiphany: 5. Clearings in the way: non-epiphany in Wordsworth; 6. Nil reconsidered: criticism, actuality, and 'To Autumn'; 7. Possession of the sublime, repression of insignificance; Part III. Return of the Same: 8. The absent dead: Wordsworth, Byron, and the epitaph; 9. Disposing of the body: the common sene of the romantic moment of dying; Conclusion; The ethics of suspending knowledge.

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