The Imaginary Library: An Essay on Literature and Society

Alvin B. Kernan

Published by Princeton University Press 1982

The Imaginary Library

An Essay on Literature and Society

Alvin B. Kernan

In the series Princeton Legacy Library

Volume 726 in the series Princeton Essays in Literature

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400855667

Overview
Contents

About this book

In this speculative treatment of literature as a social institution, Alvin B. Kernan explores the inability of contemporary writers and critics to maintain a literary vision in a society that denies their values and methods.

Originally published in 1982.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Introduction. The Place of Poetry in the World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
I. The Actual and Imaginary Library: Literature as a Social Institution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
II. Mighty Poets in their Misery Dead: The Death of the Poet in Saul Bellow's Humboldt's Gift Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
III. "Battering the Object": The Attack on the Literary Text in Malamud's the Tenants Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
IV. Reading Zemblan: The Audience Disappears in Nabokov's Pale Fire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
V. The Taking of the Moon: The Struggle of the Poetic and Scientific Myths in Norman Mailer's of a Fire on the Moon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
VI. Finding the New Thing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	162
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181

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