Why Trilling matters / Adam Kirsch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kirsch, Adam, 1976-

Series:

Why X matters.

Why X matters

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Trilling, Lionel, 1905-1975--Criticism and interpretation.

Trilling, Lionel.

Criticism--United States--History--20th century.

Criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (198 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Lionel Trilling, regarded at the time of his death in 1975 as America's preeminent literary critic, is today often seen as a relic of a vanished era. His was an age when literary criticism and ideas seemed to matter profoundly in the intellectual life of the country. In this eloquent book, Adam Kirsch shows that Trilling, far from being obsolete, is essential to understanding our current crisis of literary confidence-and to overcoming it. By reading Trilling primarily as a writer and thinker, Kirsch demonstrates how Trilling's original and moving work continues to provide an inspiring example of a mind creating itself through its encounters with texts. Why Trilling Matters introduces all of Trilling's major writings and situates him in the intellectual landscape of his century, from Communism in the 1930's to neoconservatism in the 1970's. But Kirsch goes deeper, addressing today's concerns about the decline of literature, reading, and even the book itself, and finds that Trilling has more to teach us now than ever before. As Kirsch writes, "Trilling's essays are not exactly literary criticism" but, like all literature, "ends in themselves."

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

One. Does Literature Matter?

Two. ''A Professor And A Man And A Writer''

Three. Varieties Of Liberal Imagination

Four. Isaac Babel And The Rabbis

Five. A Syllabus Of Terrors

Six. ''Howl'' And The Visionary Gleam

Seven. The Affirming Self

Eight. The Reader As Hero

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613309211

9781283309219

1283309211

9780300178289

030017828X

OCLC:

923596715