Why literature matters in the 21st century / Mark William Roche.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roche, Mark William.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature and morals.

Literature and technology.

Criticism.

Canon (Literature).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource (xii, 308 p.))

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Not just another jeremiad against prevailing isms and orthodoxies, Why Literature Matters in the 21st Century examines literature in its connection to virtue and moral excellence. The author is concerned with literature as the teacher of virtue. The current crisis in the humanities, Mark William Roche argues, may be traced back to the separation of art and morality. ("When the distinction between is and ought is leveled," he writes, "the power of the professions increases.")The arts and humanities concern themselves with the fate and prospects of humankind. Today that fate and those prospects are under the increasing influence of technology. In a technological age, literature gains in importance precisely to the extent that our sense of intrinsic value is lost. In its elevation of play and inexhaustible meaning, literature offers a counterbalance to reason and efficiency. It helps us grasp the ways in which diverse parts form a comprehensive and complex whole, and it connects us with other ages and cultures. Not least, great literature grapples with the ethical challenges of the day.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Sources and Translations

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. The Value of Literature

Chapter 3. The Value of Literary Criticism

Chapter 4. Contemporary Models

Chapter 5. Categories of the Technological Age

Chapter 6. Aesthetics in the Technological Age

Chapter 7. The Value of Literature Today

Chapter 8. Technology, Ethics, and Literature

Chapter 9. The Literary Canon and the Literary Critic in the Twenty-First Century

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-291) and index.

ISBN:

9786611730390

9781281730398

1281730394

9780300129595

0300129599

OCLC:

1023975074