How is it possible that modern criticism, which was born of the struggle against the absolutist state, could be reduced to its current status as part of the public relations branch of the literary ind
The book offers an interpretation of Euripides' The Trojan Women which issues from the argument that the function of Greek tragedy was to educate. The author demonstrates that the play performs its function by examining Athenian ideology. By making the didactic function of tragedy the basis of interpretation, he is able to offer a coherent view of a number of long-standing problems in Euripidean criticism, for instance, the relation of Euripides to the Sophists.
The book offers an interpretation of Euripides' The Trojan Women which issues from the argument that the function of Greek tragedy was to educate. The author demonstrates that the play performs its function by examining Athenian ideology. By making the didactic function of tragedy the basis of interpretation, he is able to offer a coherent view of a number of long-standing problems in Euripidean criticism, for instance, the relation of Euripides to the Sophists.
Jacques Lacan's commentaries on Freud had revolutionary implications not only for the analytic movement but also for contemporary philosophy and literary criticism. Lacan held that if the unconscious,
These essays in aesthetics by the philosopher Ernst Bloch belong to the tradition ofcultural criticism represented by Georg Lukacs, Theodor Adorno, and Walter Benjamin. Bloch'sfascination with art as
Following criticism of ideas emerged from the theoretical debate among schools of thought over the possible effects of Public Deficits, this work introduces the most realistic and best-theorized Consu
The world of theatre criticism is rapidly changing. Its form, function and modes of operation in the 21st-century have long surpassed the boundaries of its discipline and have significantly influenced
The world of theatre criticism is rapidly changing. Its form, function and modes of operation in the 21st-century have long surpassed the boundaries of its discipline and have significantly influenced
In Structure and Society in Literary History Robert Weimann, one of Germany's leading literary theoreticians, raises important questions about the social function of literature and sketches the outlin
Analyses of the dynamics of change present in Europe are not complete without taking into account the role and function of the critical approach as a founding element of European culture. An appreciat
Benjamin J. Petroelje argues that how one reads Ephesians is a function of deeper questions about how to read the Pauline book. Petroelje suggests the contemporary consensus―that Ephesians depicts development of/away from the “real Paul”―is largely a construct of modern criticism, rooted in shifting strategies about how to read a letter collection that developed in the 19th-century.Using Ephesians 3:1-13 as a point of analysis, Petroelje theorizes that the text’s “image of Paul” not only anticipates recent revisionist interpretations of Paul’s Jewish identity and gentile gospel, but also holds together tensions in the collection itself surrounding these questions. By analysing ancient letter collections beside their own hermeneutical priorities, and applying this method to the late-antique and modern reception of the corpus Paulinum, Petroelje is able to historicize the origins of the split of Paul's corpus, revealing the constructed nature of the critical consensus on Ephesians and th
This study analyses the emergence of aesthetic theory in eighteenth-century Germany in relation to contemporary theories of the nature of language and signs. As well as being extremely relevant to the discussion of literary theory, this perspective casts much light on Enlightenment aesthetics. The central text under consideration shows that the extended comparison of poetry and the plastic arts contained in that major work of aesthetic criticism rests upon a theory of signs and constitutes a complex and global theory of aesthetic signification. His analysis of Laocoon is preceded by chapters which establish the underlying structure and influence of the Enlightenment metasemiotic - that is, the place and function of the sign concept in the culture of the early eighteenth century. As an important reinterpretation of Lessing's Laocoon and of the development of German aesthetic theory, this book will be of special interest to students and scholars of German literature. Moreover, as a signi
In this 1978 book, it is Dr Kirkpatrick's contention that critics have yet to present a satisfactory account of Dante's originality in the Paradiso. We shall best appreciate the Paradiso, he argues, if we recognise that poetry can not only dramatise thought, but also offer a thorough analysis of religious and philosophical belief. Considering Dante's own discussions of poetry and language in the Convivio and De Vulgari Eloquentia, Dr Kirkpatrick claims that, for Dante, direct and careful statement is itself a special responsibility of the poet. This attitude is shown in detail to conflict with a view that critics continue to derive from T. S. Eliot and from theoreticians such as Croce and Terracini, whereby poetic language is allowed only an expressive and imaginative function. Dr Kirkpatrick demonstrates how in practice Dante's adoption of analytical language influences the organisation of his poem and his handling of word and image.
William Newnham (1790–1865) was a general medical practitioner, also qualified as an apothecary, who played a prominent role in his profession and was widely recognised for his skill. His particular medical interest lay within the fields of gynaecology and obstetrics, although he also published several papers on topics including phrenology and human magnetism. This 1830 publication contains a series of essays he had recently written for The Christian Observer. In them, Newnham argues that dreams, visions, apparitions and other apparently spiritual manifestations, whether good or bad, arise from physiological rather than supernatural causes. He provides evidence that the effects on the brain from disease, medications (including nitrous oxide and opium) and trauma, causing 'disturbance of brainular function', can produce such experiences. Anticipating criticism, he insists that the light of science benefits true religion rather than undermining it, contrasting 'real Christianity' with 's
A classic of criticism that examines the nature, function, form, and contents of literature. "The most ordered, ranging and purposeful attempt...toward keeping the study of literature at once intellig
Challenging the sentimentalized and moralized view of comedy that prevails in modern criticism, Christopher Herbert outlines a theory of comedy as a mode whose dominant motive and function is the glor
Since Aristotle, genre has been one of the fundamental concepts of literary theory, and much of the world's literature and criticism has been shaped by ideas about the nature, function and value of li
