Modernist fiction and vagueness : philosophy, form, and language / Megan Quigley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Quigley, Megan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Modernism (Literature).

Fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

Fiction.

Vagueness (Philosophy).

Language and languages in literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xiv, 228 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Summary:

"Modernist Fiction and Vagueness marries the artistic and philosophical versions of vagueness, linking the development of literary modernism to changes in philosophy. This book argues that the problem of vagueness - language's unavoidable imprecision - led to transformations in both fiction and philosophy in the early twentieth century. Both twentieth-century philosophers and their literary counterparts (including James, Eliot, Woolf, and Joyce) were fascinated by the vagueness of words and the dream of creating a perfectly precise language. Building on recent interest in the connections between analytic philosophy, pragmatism, and modern literature, Modernist Fiction and Vagueness demonstrates that vagueness should be read not as an artistic problem but as a defining quality of modernist fiction"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Linguistic turns and literary modernism

"The Re-instatement of the vague": The James Brothers and Charles S. Peirce

When in December 1910?: Virginia Woolf, Bertrand Russell, and the question of vagueness

A dream of international precision: James Joyce, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and C. K. Ogden

Conclusion: To criticize the criticism: T.S. Eliot and the eradication of vagueness.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781107089594

110708959X

9781107461154

1107461154

OCLC:

889736783

Online:

Cover image