The committed word : literature and public values / James Engell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Engell, James, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--18th century--History and criticism.

English literature.

English language--18th century--Rhetoric.

English language.

Rhetoric.

Rhetoric--Political aspects.

Literature and society.

Public interest.

Physical Description:

x, 198 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press, [1999]

Summary:

During the past century, literary education, often divorced from rhetoric, has grown increasingly distant from the practice of language in statecraft, law, religion, and ethics. Yet literature and rhetoric retain open, independent powers to enhance what Emerson calls "the conduct of life." In these provocative essays, James Engell argues that a more complete literary mining can foster a heightened seine of shared social experience, an awareness of diverse views, a love of language, and a more powerful ability to express the values we enshrine or debate. Revealing a set of deep intersections among literature, politics, rhetoric, and the public deliberation of values, he explores how dedicated individuals of different callings resort to heightened language in order to secure knowledge, test beliefs, consider policy, and promote action.

Contents:

1 The Committed Word 1

2 Burke's Poetry and Prophecy 15

3 Pope's American Constitution 33

4 Swift Considers Words, Intelligence, and the Academy 51

5 Hume's Cultural Critique 63

6 Vico Tells the Story of Stories 81

7 The Politics of Greed 99

8 Robert Lowth, Unacknowledged Legislator 119

9 Lincoln's Language, and Ours 141

10 Recommitment 163.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [175]-192) and index.

ISBN:

0271018909

OCLC:

39839618