Literary criticism from Plato to postmodernism : the humanistic alternative PDF
Preview Literary criticism from Plato to postmodernism : the humanistic alternative
LiteraryCriticismfromPlatotoPostmodernism TheHumanisticAlternative ThisbookoffersahistoryofliterarycriticismfromPlatotothe present, arguing that this history can usefully be seen as a dialogue among three traditions – the Platonic, Neoplatonic, and the humanistic, whose first practitioner was Aristotle. There are many histories of literary criticism, but this is the firsttoclarifyourunderstandingofthemanyseeminglyincom- mensurable approaches employed over the centuries by refer- encetothethreetraditions.Makingitscasebycarefulanalyses of individual critics, the book argues for the relevance of the humanistictraditioninthetwenty-firstcenturyandbeyond. James Seaton is a professor in the Department of English at Michigan State University, where he teaches courses on the history of literary criticism, American literature and culture, and literature and law. His previous books include Cultural Conservatism, Political Liberalism: From Criticism to Cultural Studies (1996) and A Reading of Vergil’s Georgics (1983). He istheeditorofTheGenteelTraditionandCharacterandOpinion in the United States by George Santayana (2009) and co-editor with William K. Buckley of Beyond Cheering and Bashing: NewPerspectivesonTheClosingoftheAmericanMind(1992). Seaton’sarticlesandreviewshaveappearedinsuchpublications asTheWallStreetJournal,TheWeeklyStandard,TheClaremont Reviewof Books, The AmericanScholar, The HudsonReview, TheUniversityBookman,ModernAge,JournaloftheHistoryof Ideas,Society,TheReviewofMetaphysics,YaleJournalofLaw and the Humanities, Legal Studies Forum, Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature, and Michigan State Law Review. He has been a frequent guest speaker at the Kirk Center for Cultural RenewalinMecosta,Michigan. Literary Criticism from Plato to Postmodernism The Humanistic Alternative JAMES SEATON MichiganStateUniversity 32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013–2473,usa CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107026100 ©JamesSeaton2014 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2014 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Seaton,James,1944–author. LiterarycriticismfromPlatotopostmodernism:thehumanistic alternative/JamesSeaton,MichiganStateUniversity. pages cm Includesbibliographicalreferences. isbn978-1-107-02610-0(hardback) 1. Criticism–History. 2. Literature–Philosophy. I. Title. pn86.s44 2014 8010.95–dc23 2013048026 isbn978-1-107-02610-0Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof urlsforexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. ThisBookIsDedicatedtotheMemory ofRogerHornsby(1926–2009) ProfessorofClassicsattheUniversityofIowa ExemplaroftheHumanisticTradition Contents Acknowledgments pageix Introduction 1 1 PlatoandNeoplatonism 11 2 RomanticismandModernism 29 3 TheoryandCulturalStudies 51 4 AristotleandtheHumanisticTradition 73 5 EdmundWilsonandLionelTrilling 110 6 Democracy,PopularCulture,andRalphEllison 145 7 LiteraryCriticism,theHumanities,andLiberal Education 172 WorksCited 199 Index 215 vii
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