Reconstructing criticism : Pope's Essay on criticism and the logic of definition / Philip Smallwood.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smallwood, Philip.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744. Essay on criticism.

Pope, Alexander.

Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744--Knowledge and learning--Literature.

Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744.

Literature.

Literature--History and criticism--Theory, etc.

Criticism--England--History--18th century.

Criticism.

England.

History.

Physical Description:

226 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lewisburg : Bucknell University Press ; London : Associated University Presses, 2003.

Contents:

Part I Logics of Definition

1. Defining Literature/Defining Criticism 29

Paradoxes of Definition in Literature and Criticism 29

Defining Literature: Four Theories 31

Philosophical Method and the Problem of Criticism: Collingwood on Definition 45

2. On Definition and Debate 49

Uniqueness and Plurality in the Definition of Criticism 49

Definitional Conditions for Critical Debate 53

Empirical and Transcendental Concepts of Criticism: The Logic of Circularity 60

3. Criticism, Function, Category, Complement 63

Ordinary and Proper Meanings of Criticism 63

Three Limits of Definition 67

The Durability of Terms 73

Part II Whole and Part in the Description of Literary Criticism

4. "Outside the Academic Fold": Radical Theory and the Modern "Men of Letters" 77

Polemical Representations of Theory and Theorists 77

Identity, Difference, and the Communities of Critical Practice 81

"Grub Street and the Ivory Tower": Critical Institutions and the Communities of Social Valuation 85

5. Criticism, Valuation, and Useful Purpose 90

The "Debate" on Value 93

Value, Politics, and the Law 96

Value, Marginality, and Canon Formation 97

Useful Purpose 99

6. Criticism and the Meanings of "Theory" 102

The Rhetoric of Mediation: Criticism and the Theory Guides 102

Theory in Criticism and Criticism in Theory 105

The Logic of Theory in Practice 111

7. Criticism, Interpretation, and Judgment 114

Criticism and the Limits of Interpretation 114

The Idea of Judgment and the Scope of Criticism 120

Varieties of Judgment 123

The Limits and Uncertainty of Judgment 126

Part III The Idea of History and the Idea of Criticism

8. Truth, History, and Literary Criticism 131

History as Definition 131

The History of Criticism and the History of "X" 132

Literary and Fictional Form in the History of Criticism 140

9. Pope's Essay and the Poetic "Idea of Criticism" 143

Four Platitudes and Pope's Essay 144

Seeing and Supposing Criticism 147

The Priority of Ideality 156

10. Conclusion: Pastness, Presence, and Pope's Essay 159

Definition and Temporality 159

Afterword: The Logic of Cultural Studies 176.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 206-215) and index.

ISBN:

0838755445

OCLC:

51477094