To relish the sublime? : culture and self-realisation in postmodern times / Martin Ryle and Kate Soper.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ryle, Martin H.

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Soper, Kate.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English fiction--History and criticism.

English fiction.

Philosophy in literature.

Great Britain--Civilization--20th century.

Great Britain.

Civilization.

Great Britain--Civilization--19th century.

Self-realization in literature.

Sublime, The, in literature.

Postmodernism (Literature).

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

262 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Verso, 2002.

Summary:

More than 130 years on from Matthew Arnold's pronouncement that human beings 'must be compelled to relish the sublime', education in the humanities still relies on a more or less Arnoldian ideal of 'culture' as the means of intellectual development. In this distinctive and original work, Martin Ryle and Kate Soper reflect critically on this enduring ideal, exploring the tensions and contradictions between it and the contemporary world of work, pleasure and consumption.

Contents:

Philosophical Conceptions

1 Philosophy and self-realisation 23

2 Cultural self-realisation: countervailing forces and sceptical voices 57

Fictional Representations

3 'A tendency to set the mind in motion': novel-reading and self-realisation 95

4 Culture and self-realisation: realist engagements 117

5 Culture and self-realisation: modernist distances 161

Conclusion: Culture and self-realisation in postmodern times 179.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [209]-247) and index.

ISBN:

1859846866

1859844618

OCLC:

50503437