By "literary criticism" we usually mean a self-conscious act
involving the technical and aesthetic appraisal, by individuals, of
autonomous works of art. Aristotle and Plato come to mind. The word
"social" does not. Yet, as this book shows, it should--if, that is,
we wish to understand where literary criticism as we think of it
today came from. Andrew Ford offers a new understanding of the
development of criticism, demonstrating that its roots stretch back
long before the sophists to public commentary on the performance of
songs and poems in the preliterary era of ancient Greece. He
pinpoints when and how, later in the Greek tradition than is
usually assumed, poetry was studied as a discipline with its own
principles and methods.
"The Origins of Criticism" complements the usual,
history-of-ideas approach to the topic precisely by treating
criticism as a social as well as a theoretical activity. With
unprecedented and penetrating detail, Ford considers varying
scholarly interpretations of the key texts discussed. Examining
Greek discussions of poetry from the late sixth century B.C.
through the rise of poetics in the late fourth, he asks when we
first can recognize anything like the modern notions of literature
as imaginative writing and of literary criticism as a special
knowledge of such writing.
Serving as a monumental preface to Aristotle's "Poetics," this
book allows readers to discern the emergence, within the manifold
activities that might be called criticism, of the historically
specific discourse on poetry that has shaped subsequent Western
approaches to literature.
General
Imprint: |
Princeton University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
August 2004 |
First published: |
August 2004 |
Authors: |
Andrew Ford
|
Dimensions: |
235 x 152 x 25mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
376 |
Edition: |
New Ed |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-691-12025-6 |
Categories: |
Books >
Language & Literature >
Literature: history & criticism >
General
|
LSN: |
0-691-12025-0 |
Barcode: |
9780691120256 |
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