Theory of Literature

Rene Wellek, Austin Warren (Autoren)

Buch | Softcover

406 Seiten

2024
Dalkey Archive Press (Verlag)
978-1-62897-283-2 (ISBN)

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It is said that this book reached an important milestone in the study of literature by crystalizing a movement that had been under way for two decades in this country. The movement being to focus literary criticism and literary study in general on literature itself, rather than on the historical backgrounds, the psychological mechanisms, the political and social currents that influence literary creation. It conceives of imaginative literature as a way of knowing, different from but as humanly useful as the method of natural science.

It begins with a brilliantly stated set of definitions of the nature and function of literature; and it proceeds through an examination of what goes into the making of a work of literature, to an analysis of the elements of literary composition and a statement of the principles by which we can evaluate the literary work itself.

The timeless virtue of this work is that the authors are thoroughly grounded in the traditional methods of literary scholarship, and also thoroughly aware of the impact of the social and psychological sciences on all modern thinking, then and now. Theory of Literature incorporates examples ranging from Aristotle to Coleridge and is written in clear, uncondescending prose, which, especially in its suspicion of simplistic explanations and its distrust of received wisdom, remains extremely relevant to the study of literature today. It was and still will be eagerly sought for by teachers, critics, students, and all other who seek objective standards for judging and further understanding the art of literature.

RENÉ WELLEK (1903-1995) was a Czech-American comparative literary critic. He taught at the University of Iowa for seven years before being hired at Yale University in 1946 where he was a professor of Slavic literature and was widely regarded as the founder of the study of comparative literature. He published many works throughout his life. Some of his more well-regarded titles were Immanuel Kant in England 1793-1838, Dostoevsky: A Collection of Critical Essays, Literature and Ideas, among many others. AUSTIN WARREN (1899-1986) was an American literary critic and professor of English at many institutions, including the University of Iowa, before arriving at the University of Michigan where he taught for 20 years and eventually retired from in 1968. He published many works throughout his life. Some of his more well-regarded titles include Alexander Pope as Critic and Humanist, Rage for Order: Essays in Criticism, as well as editing They Will Remain: Poems by Susan Pendleton, among many others.

Contents

Preface

I. DEFINITIONS AND DISTINCTIONS

I. Literature and Literary Study 3

II. The Nature of Literature 9

III. The Function of Literature 19

IV. Literary Theory, Criticism, and History 29

V. General, Comparative, and National

Literature 38

II. PRELIMINARY OPERATIONS

VI. The Ordering and Establishing of Evidence 49

III. THE EXTRINSIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF LITERATURE

Introduction 61

VII. Literature and Biography 67

VIII. Literature and Psychology 75

IX. Literature and Society 89

X. Literature and Ideas 107

XI. Literature and the Other Arts 124

IV. THE INTRINSIC STUDY OF LITERATURE

XII. The Analysis of the Literary Work of Art 139

XIII. Euphony, Rhythm, and Meter 159

XIV. Style and Stylistics 177

XV. Image, Metaphor, Symbol, Myth 190

XVI. The Nature and Modes of Narrative Fiction 219

XVII. Literary Genres 235

XVIII. Evaluation 248

XIX. Literary History 263

V. THE ACADEMIC SITUATION

XX. The Study of Literature in the Graduate School 285

Notes 299

Bibliography 347

Index 389

Erscheinungsdatum	25.08.2018
Verlagsort	Normal, IL
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Essays / Feuilleton
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
ISBN-10	1-62897-283-1 / 1628972831
ISBN-13	978-1-62897-283-2 / 9781628972832
Zustand	Neuware