Literary Aesthetics - (Reader) by Alan Singer & Allen Dunn (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

It is one of the ironies of contemporary literary study that as it has moved toward greater interdisciplinarity it has grown sceptical of the aesthetic. This anthology works to reassert the continuing relevance of the aesthetic and to reintegrate it into the widening repertoire of contemporary literary critical practices.

From the Back Cover

It is one of the ironies of contemporary literary study that as it has moved toward greater interdisciplinarity it has grown sceptical of the aesthetic. This anthology reasserts the continuing relevance of the aesthetic and to reintegrate it into the widening repertoire of contemporary literary critical practices.

From its inception literary aesthetics has been engaged in the full range of debates generated by the criticism of culture. Unlike the more restricted discourse of philosophical aesthetics, it has explored the ways in which value commitments extend across disciplinary domains by reckoning with the practical concerns of art production and consumption.

The readings in this anthology reach back to classical sources of philosophical aesthetics and forward to the most current accounts of the utility/value of the literary artwork in post-modern culture. The organization of the text is designed to engage the reader in the shaping debates of literary aesthetic theory and demonstrate their continuing relevance for our understanding of the ways literature sustains and critiques culture.

Review Quotes

"This volume can be strongly recommended as a first reader in aesthetics for interested students of literature." Reference Reviews

About the Author

Alan Singer teaches in the Department of English at Temple University, specialising in critical literary theory and film theory. His books include The Subject as Action (1993).

Allen Dunn is at the English Department at the University of Tennessee.