02499nam 2200529 a 450 991082045600332120240516112201.01-58729-709-4(CKB)1000000000575935(EBL)843118(OCoLC)631693951(SSID)ssj0000154434(PQKBManifestationID)11161418(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000154434(PQKBWorkID)10408361(PQKB)11066228(MiAaPQ)EBC843118(MdBmJHUP)muse8960(Au-PeEL)EBL843118(CaPaEBR)ebr10354458(EXLCZ)99100000000057593520070301d2007 ub 0engur|n|---|||||txtccrFiction sets you free literature, liberty, and western culture /Russell A. Berman1st ed.Iowa City University Of Iowa Pressc20071 online resource (263 p.)Description based upon print version of record.1-58729-604-7 Includes bibliographical references (p. [223]-228) and index.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; IndexIn 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 aFictionHistory and criticismTheory, etcFictionHistory and criticismTheory, etc.809.3Berman Russell A.1950-517767MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910820456003321Fiction sets you free3917550UNINA