In this important and controversial book, one of our leading
literary theorists presents a major philosophical statement about
the meaning of literature and the shape of literary texts. Drawing
on works by the Russian writers Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov,
by other writers as diverse as Sophocles, Cervantes, and George
Eliot, by thinkers as varied as William James, Mikhail Bakhtin, and
Stephen Jay Gould, and from philosophy, the Bible, television, and
much more, Gary Saul Morson examines the relation of time to
narrative form and to an ethical dimension of the literary
experience. Morson asserts that the way we think about the world
and narrate events is often in contradiction to the truly eventful
and open nature of daily life. Literature, history, and the
sciences frequently present experience as if contingency, chance,
and the possibility of diverse futures were all illusory. As a
result, people draw conclusions or accept ideologies without
sufficiently examining their consequences or alternatives. However,
says Morson, there is another way to read and construct texts. He
explains that most narratives are developed through foreshadowing
and "backshadowing" (foreshadowing ascribed after the fact), which
tend to reduce the multiplicity of possibilities in each moment.
But other literary works try to convey temporal openness through a
device he calls "sideshadowing." Sideshadowing suggests that to
understand an event is to grasp what else might have happened. Time
is not a line but a shifting set of fields of possibility. Morson
argues that this view of time and narrative encourages intellectual
pluralism, helps to liberate us from the false certainties of
dogmatism, creates a healthy skepticism of present orthodoxies, and
makes us aware that there are moral choices available to us.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
