1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910452056203321

Autore

Roche Mark William

Titolo

Why literature matters in the 21st century [[electronic resource] /] / Mark William Roche

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, : Yale University Press, c2004

ISBN

1-281-73039-4

9786611730390

0-300-12959-9

Descrizione fisica

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

Disciplina

801/.3

Soggetti

Literature and morals

Literature and technology

Criticism

Canon (Literature)

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

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

Nota di contenuto

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

Sommario/riassunto

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.