Literature, life, and modernity / Richard Eldridge.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Eldridge, Richard Thomas, 1953-

Series:

Columbia Themes in Philosophy, Social Criticism, and the Arts

Columbia themes in philosophy, social criticism, and the arts

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature--Philosophy.

Literature.

European literature--History and criticism.

European literature.

Literature and society.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (193 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, c2008.

New York : Columbia University Press, [2008]

Language Note:

English

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

Richard Eldridge explores the ability of dense and formally interesting literature to respond to the complexities of modern life. Beyond simple entertainment, difficult modern works cultivate reflective depth and help their readers order and interpret their lives as subjects in relation to complex economies and technological systems. By imagining themselves in the role of the protagonist or the authorial persona, readers become immersed in structures of sustained attention, under which concrete possibilities of meaningful life, along with difficulties that block their realization, are tracked and clarified. Literary form, Eldridge argues, generates structures of care, reflection, and investment within readers, shaping—if not stabilizing—their interactions with everyday objects and events. Through the experience of literary forms of attention, readers may come to think and live more actively, more fully engaging with modern life, rather than passively suffering it. Eldridge considers the thought of Descartes, Kant, Adorno, Benjamin, Stanley Cavell, and Charles Taylor in his discussion of Goethe, Wordsworth, Rilke, Stoppard, and Sebald, advancing a philosophy of literature that addresses our desire to read and the meaning and satisfaction that literary attention brings to our fragmented modern lives.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: Subjectivity, Modernity, and the Uses of Literature

2. Romanticism, Cartesianism, Humeanism, Byronism Stoppard's Arcadia

3. Romantic Subjectivity in Goethe and Wittgenstein

4. Attention, Expressive Power, and Interest in Life: Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey"

5. The Ends of Literary Narrative: Rilke's "Archaic Torso of Apollo"

6. "New Centers of Reflection Are Continually Forming": Benjamin, Sebald, and Modern Human Life in Time

Appendix: William Wordsworth: "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey"

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [157]-174) and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Digitalia, viewed December 1, 2023)

ISBN:

9780231515528

0231515529

OCLC:

818856199