Description
Book SynopsisLiterature matters because... it allows for experiences important to the living out of a sophisticated and satisfying human life; because other arenas of culture cannot provide them to the same degree; and because a relatively small number of texts carry out these functions in so exceptional a manner that we owe it to past and future members of the species to keep such texts alive in our cultural traditions.from Chapter One
Frank B. Farrell defends a rich conception of the space of literature that retains its links to issues of self-formation and metaphysics and does not let that space collapse into just another reflection of social space. He maintains that recent literary theory has badly misread findings in the philosophy of language and the theory of subjectivity. That misreading, Farrell says, has tended to endorse ways of understanding literature that make one question why it matters at all. Farrell here opposes some recent theoretical trends and, through a mix of philos
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Farrell, a political liberal, believes that literature has been devalued and sets out to show why it still matters. According to Farrell, the reasons are numerous, elusive, and various (economic, technological, and political, not merely a result of changes in literary-critical practice), but he addresses only those that emanate from literary study.... Farrell has a gift for citing interesting ideas from many sources.
-- K. Tololyan * Choice *
