Collection(s) : Bibliothèque de littérature générale et comparée
Paru le 07/12/2011 | Relié 488 pages
Public motivé
edited by Jonathan Locke Hart
In The Implications of Literary Criticism Harry Levin sees literature as both the cause of social effects and the effect of social causes and proposes a complex literary history. Literature represents the part as the whole, involves selection and order, and can suggest additions to nature. Art refracts more than reflects life. To comprehend the angles of refraction, Levin recommends a comparative study of techniques as a complement to an awareness of social backgrounds.
The movement of the body of the book is in four parts, from "Theory and Criticism" through "Perspectives" and "Thematics" to "Authors, Artists, Texts." The Appendix, "Reviewing: More Implications on Explanation," includes key reviews and review essays. The first part opens by raising the question of the crisis in interpretation. The second part continues this exploration of the nature of art, literature and interpretation. In the third part, which involves thematics, Levin reminds the reader of the turn from the back-ground of literature - biography, history and sociology - to the text. The fourth part extends from medieval representations though Renaissance poetics and Victorian novels to twentieth century fiction and film.
Harry Levin was Irving Babbitt Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University. His many books include James Joyce: A Critical Introduction (1941), Toward Stendhal (1945), Toward Balzac (1947), The Overreacher: A Study of Christopher Marlowe (1952), The Question of Hamlet (1959), The Gates of Horn: A Study of Five French Realists (1963), Why Literary Criticism is Not an Exact Science (1968), The Myth of the Golden Age in the Renaissance (1969), Memories of the Moderns (1981), Playboys and Killjoys: An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Comedy (1986), Scenes from Shakespeare (2000).
Jonathan Hart, Professor of English and Comparative Literature and editor of the Canadian Review of Comparative Literature at University of Alberta, is a poet, critic and historian who has held visiting appointments at Harvard, Cambridge, Princeton, Toronto, Sorbonne-Nouvelle and elsewhere. His books include, Northrop Frye: The Theoretical Imagination (1994), Representing the New World: English and French Uses of the Example of Spain (2001), Interpreting Cultures: Literature, Religion, and the Human Sciences (2006), Empires and Colonies (2008), Shakespeare: Poetry, History, and Culture (2009), and Dreamwork (2010).
