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First published in 1974, New Directions in Literary History is a
comprehensive attempt to present approaches to literary studies
that have developed from phenomenology, stylistics and linguistics,
Marxist reconsiderations of literature, interdisciplinary studies
and analysis of reader response. Written by an international group
of scholars, the essays are taken from the pages of New Literary
History. They range from the Middle Ages to contemporary
literature. European and American literary critics are here
represented, together with an art critic, a philosopher and a
novelist. Their essays deal with crucial problems in the study of
literature: the relationship of the contemporary critic to works of
the past; the place of method in literary study; how reading takes
place; the role of the reader in different literary periods in
providing a guide to interpretation; the language of literature and
its relation to natural or ordinary language; the origin and
decline of literary forms; and what constitutes literature,
especially in the relation between fictional character and
autobiography. Although the essays are essentially concerned with
theoretical issues, they also examine the practical applications to
literature. Students of English literature and literary theory will
find this book particularly interesting.
In this book, first published in 1989, twenty-give eminent critics
and theorists write about different aspects of literary theory.
These essays represent leading research in psychoanalytic
criticism, new historicism, Continental theory, feminism,
Afro-American studies, philosophy, cybernetics, aesthetics, and
other theoretical inflections. The result is a collective statement
on the course that lies ahead for criticism in the humanities, and
will be of interest to students of literary theory.
First published in 1964, The Art of Discrimination is a study in
the relation between critical theory and practice, taking as its
test-case James Thomson's The Seasons, the poem which was,
according to Johnson, of "a new kind". Professor Cohen explores the
different applications of criticism from 1750 to 1950, analysing
specific interpretations of the poem that altered, contradicted or
supported poetic theory. In doing so, he introduces new techniques
to supplement traditional critical commentary: illustrations are
treated as interpretations and critical language is related to
non-literary as well as literary information. In treating the
history of critical interpretation, the reprinting of editions and
past interpretations are considered along with contemporary
statements as necessary to define a literary period. The book
offers alternatives to theories of organicism and to those of the
arbitrariness of literary history by defining the kinds of
continuities that exist in criticism. As analysis of criticism, it
studies how men think about literature, the extent to which such
thinking resists systematization and those elements in it which can
be controlled and organized and transmitted. The book will appeal
to students of literature and critical theory.
First published in 1970, The Unfolding of The Seasons provides an
interpretation and evaluation of James Thomson's poem The Seasons.
Professor Cohen urges its reconsideration as a major Augustan poem,
arguing that Thomson's unity, diction and thought combine with a
conception of man, nature and God which is poetically tenable and
distinctive. The case for The Seasons as an important work of art
depends upon its effectiveness as a moving vision of human
experience, and Professor Cohen believes that many critics have not
felt this effectiveness because they have misconceived Thomson's
vision and misunderstood his idiom. His study aims to persuade them
to return to the poem and to examine it within the context of an
Augustan tradition. Professor Cohen shows that Thomson's great
achievement is to have fashioned a conception which, by bringing
nature to the forefront of his poem, became a new poetic way of
defining human experience. Thomson was not the first nature poet in
English, but he was the first to provide an effective idiom in
which science, orthodox religion, natural description, and
classical allusions blended to describe the glory, baseness and
uncertainty of man's earthly environment, holding forth the hope of
heavenly love and wisdom. This study shows that Thomson found a
personal idiom by means of which he created an artistic vision. It
will appeal to those with an interest in English literature and in
philosophy.
The aim of this book is to orchestrate "a generic reconstitution of
literary studies" based on a comprehensive theory of genre and
generic transformation. Taking "An Excellent Ballad of George
Barnwel," a seventeenth-century broadside of sex and greed, Ralph
Cohen analyzes the generic transformations-including Addison's
ballad criticism in The Spectator, The London Merchant, Percy's
ballad editing in Reliques, and Barnwell. A Novel-in which this
particular ballad exhibits remarkable continuity over the next four
centuries, culminating with his personal re-formation; what was
considered non-literary criticism becomes literary. This unique
literary history reconceives narrative as a component of genre
rather than a genre itself, demonstrates the ineluctably mixed
nature of genres and the literary nature of our humanness, and
analyzes the shifting generic contexts for interpretation and
gender relations. Incorporating theory consciousness into the
literary genre he is regenerating, Cohen offers a brilliant example
of how future literary histories might be written.
In this book, first published in 1989, twenty-give eminent critics
and theorists write about different aspects of literary theory.
These essays represent leading research in psychoanalytic
criticism, new historicism, Continental theory, feminism,
Afro-American studies, philosophy, cybernetics, aesthetics, and
other theoretical inflections. The result is a collective statement
on the course that lies ahead for criticism in the humanities, and
will be of interest to students of literary theory.
These are proceedings of an International Conference on Algebraic
Topology, held 28 July through 1 August, 1986, at Arcata,
California. The conference served in part to mark the 25th
anniversary of the journal "Topology" and 60th birthday of Edgar H.
Brown. It preceded ICM 86 in Berkeley, and was conceived as a
successor to the Aarhus conferences of 1978 and 1982. Some thirty
papers are included in this volume, mostly at a research level.
Subjects include cyclic homology, H-spaces, transformation groups,
real and rational homotopy theory, acyclic manifolds, the homotopy
theory of classifying spaces, instantons and loop spaces, and
complex bordism.
The aim of this book is to orchestrate "a generic reconstitution of
literary studies" based on a comprehensive theory of genre and
generic transformation. Taking "An Excellent Ballad of George
Barnwel," a seventeenth-century broadside of sex and greed, Ralph
Cohen analyzes the generic transformations-including Addison's
ballad criticism in The Spectator, The London Merchant, Percy's
ballad editing in Reliques, and Barnwell. A Novel-in which this
particular ballad exhibits remarkable continuity over the next four
centuries, culminating with his personal re-formation; what was
considered non-literary criticism becomes literary. This unique
literary history reconceives narrative as a component of genre
rather than a genre itself, demonstrates the ineluctably mixed
nature of genres and the literary nature of our humanness, and
analyzes the shifting generic contexts for interpretation and
gender relations. Incorporating theory consciousness into the
literary genre he is regenerating, Cohen offers a brilliant example
of how future literary histories might be written.
He was always there for me, Jenny Kovacek says in the opening of
the novel After Dad, and indeed, her father is such a charismatic
force in the family that despite his untimely passing, he continues
to have a dynamic impact on his survivors. Set mostly in Southern
California during the tumultuous 1960s, Ralph Cohen's debut novel
tells the stories of the man's three children and widow as they
cope with his loss. Though missing, the father is never far from
their minds, and during critical moments in their lives, he seems
to reach out in various ways, from simple memories of touch and
voice to artifacts left behind to a sense of his ongoing existence.
How each of the family members responds to his lingering presence
leads to results that are by turn comic, tragic and transformative.
Two of the book's chapters appeared previously in literary
magazines, The Connecticut Review and REAL.
First published in 1974, New Directions in Literary History is a
collection of theoretical essays on literary history written by an
international group of scholars. It is the first comprehensive
attempt to present the approaches to literary history that have
developed from phenomenology, from stylistics to linguistics, from
Marxist reconsiderations of literature, from interdisciplinary
studies, and from analyses of audience response. The essays deal
with crucial problems in the study of literature: the relation of
the contemporary critic to the works of the past, the place of
method in literary study, and the role of readers of different
periods in providing a guide to interpretation. Works from the
Middle Ages to contemporary literature are discussed by the
contributors, who do not neglect the practical implications of the
theoretical issues treated.
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