Fiction sets you free : literature, liberty, and western culture / Russell A. Berman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Berman, Russell A., 1950-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Fiction.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (263 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University Of Iowa Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In what can only be called a genuine intellectual adventure, Russell Berman raises fundamental questions long ignored by literary scholars; Why does literature command our attention at all? Why would society want to cultivate a sphere of activity devoted to the careful study of literary fiction? Written as a tonic to what he calls the debilitating cultural relativism of contemporary literary studies, Fiction Sets You Free advances the innovative argument that literature and capitalism, rather than representing merely commercialization, actually belie a long and positive association: literary a

Contents:

Contents; Acknowledgments; Why Literature Matters; Introduction; 1. Periodization and the Canon; 2. Human Origins and Literary Beginnings; 3. Writing and Heroism; 4. Literacy and Autonomy; 5. The Epic and the Individual; 6. Religion and Writing; 7. The Democracy of Literature; 8. Imagination and Economy; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [223]-228) and index.

ISBN:

9781587297090

1587297094

OCLC:

631693951