A Future for Criticism considers why fiction gives so much pleasure, and the neglect of this issue in contemporary criticism. Offers a brief, lively, and accessible account of a new direction for critical practice, from one of Britain's most prominent literary theorists and criticsProposes a new path for future criticism, more open to reflecting on the pleasures of fictionWritten in a clear, jargon-free style, and illustrated throughout with numerous examples INDICE: Preface.1 Pleasure: Have we neglected it?Fiction for pleasure.The case of tragedy.The English curriculum.Cries of joy.‘Aesthetic’ pleasure.The Pleasure of the Text.Modernist unpleasure.Gaiety.2 Piety: Haven’t we overdone it?Criticism on the defensive.Classic defences.The advent of theory.Law.The superego.Neurosis.Complacency.Culture and Anarchy.Artefacts and pleasure.Criticalwriting.3 Biography: Friend or foe?Life and art.Biography in theory.What the authors say.New Historicism.Shakespeare’s life.Fact or fiction?Shakespeare’s memory.Romance.The death of the reader.4 Realism: Do we overrate it?A disputed value.The default genre.Imitation.Insight.Totalization.Suspicion.Objections.The radical view.Recuperation.A counter-example.5 Culture: What do we mean by it?Cultural criticism.Twin perils.Culture as meanings.Meanwhile, in Paris …Anthropology.Another culture.Perils circumvented.Work to do.6 History: Do we do it justice?Offi cial usage.Cultural difference.History and criticism.Customary knowledge.Dissonance.An example.The old historicism.Criticism as cultural history.The uses of criticism.Critical skills.7 Desire: A force to reckon with.Pleasure revisited.Orpheus.Loss.The desire of the protagonist.Stand-ins.The desire of the reader.The desire of the text.Substitution.Pacification.Defiance.Breaking the rules.And so …Criticism.Notes.Index.
- ISBN: 978-1-4443-9341-5
- Editorial: Wiley-Blackwell
- Encuadernacion: Rústica
- Páginas: 152
- Fecha Publicación: 20/03/2012
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés