Literary Criticism: A New History

Gary Day

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2008

Literary Criticism

A New History

Gary Day

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748628520

Overview
Contents

About this book

A THE Book of the Week

Did you know that Aristotle thought the best tragedies were those which ended happily? Or that the first mention of the motor car in literature may have been in 1791 in James Boswell's Life of Johnson? Or that it was not unknown in the nineteenth century for book reviews to be 30,000 words long?

These are just a few of the fascinating facts to be found in this absorbing history of literary criticism. From the Ancient Greek period to the present day, we learn about critics' lives, the times in which they lived and how the same problems of interpretation and valuation persist through the ages. In this lively and engaging book, Gary Day questions whether the 'theory wars' of recent years have lost sight of the actual literature, and makes surprising connections between criticism and a range of subjects, including the rise of money.

General readers will appreciate this informative, intriguing and often provocative account of the history of literary criticism, students will value the clear way in which it puts criticism into context and academics will enjoy getting to grips with this challenge to the prevailing view about the nature of current theory.

Key Features

Gary Day is a well-known writer and critic, and has been a regular contributor to the Times Higher Education
Integrates a wide range of writers, critics and texts into a continuous history
Passionately defends the idea of the 'literary'

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Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Polemical Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Greeks and Romans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	10
2. Medieval Criticism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
3. English Renaissance Criticism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
4. English Enlightenment and Early Romantic Criticism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
5. English Romantic, Moral and Aesthetic Criticism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
6. Institutionalising English Criticism: Men of Letters, Modernism, Tradition and Theory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	316
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	335

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 352
Keywords: Literary Studies

eBook

Published: July 4, 2008
ISBN: 9780748628520