Wordsworth and the Enlightenment idea of pleasure / Rowan Boyson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boyson, Rowan.

Series:

Cambridge studies in Romanticism ; 95.

Cambridge studies in Romanticism ; 95

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850--Philosophy.

Wordsworth, William.

Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850--Criticism and interpretation.

Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850.

Pleasure in literature.

Pleasure--Philosophy.

Pleasure.

Enlightenment.

Criticism and interpretation.

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

vii, 241 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge [England] : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Summary:

"Ancient questions about the causes and nature of pleasure were revived in the eighteenth century with a new consideration of its ethical and political significance. Rowan Boyson reminds us that philosophers of the Enlightenment, unlike modern thinkers, often represented pleasure as shared rather than selfish, and she focuses particularly on this approach to the philosophy and theory of pleasure. Through close reading of Enlightenment and Romantic texts, in particular the poetry and prose of William Wordsworth, Boyson elaborates on this central theme. Covering a wide range of texts by philosophers, theorists and creative writers from over the centuries, she presents a strong defence of the Enlightenment ideal of pleasure, drawing out its rich political, as well as intellectual and aesthetic, implications"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

pt. 1. Pleasure philosophy. 1. Aesthetics of pleasure : Shaftesbury, Kant, and the sensus communis ; 2. Powers of pleasure : Rousseau and Wollstonecraft

pt. 2. Wordsworth's common pleasure. 3. Poetics of pleasure in Lyrical ballads ; 4. Economies of affect in The prelude and Home at Grasmere ; 5. The politics of happiness in The excursion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 188-237) and index.

ISBN:

9781107023307

1107023300

OCLC:

793497170

Online:

Cover image