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An Experiment in Criticism C. S. Lewis

An Experiment in Criticism By C. S. Lewis

An Experiment in Criticism by C. S. Lewis


$17.49
Condition - Very Good
Only 2 left

Summary

Why do we read literature and how do we judge it? C. S. Lewis's classic analysis springs from the conviction that literature exists for the joy of the reader and that books should be judged by the kind of reading they invite.

An Experiment in Criticism Summary

An Experiment in Criticism by C. S. Lewis

Professor Lewis believed that literature exists above all for the joy of the reader and that books should be judged by the kind of reading they invite. He doubted the use of strictly evaluative criticism, especially its condemnations. Literary criticism is traditionally employed in judging books, and 'bad taste' is thought of as a taste for bad books. Professor Lewis's experiment consists in reversing the process, and judging literature itself by the way men read it. He defined a good book as one which can be read in a certain way, a bad book as one which can only be read in another. He was therefore mainly preoccupied with the notion of good reading: and he showed that this, in its surrender to the work on which it is engaged, has something in common with love, with moral action, and with intellectual achievement. In good reading we should be concerned less in altering our own opinions than in entering fully into the opinions of others; 'in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself'. As with all that Professor Lewis wrote, the arguments are stimulating and the examples apt.

An Experiment in Criticism Reviews

'Lewis is at one and the same time provocative, tactful, biased, open-minded, old-fashioned, far-seeing, very annoying and very wise.' Church Times
'This genuinely provocative little book Professor Lewis makes the best case against evaluative criticism that I have read.' David Daiches, New York Times Book Review

Table of Contents

1. The few and the many; 2. False characterisations; 3. How the few and the many use pictures and music; 4. The reading of the unliterary; 5. On myth; 6. The meaning of fantasy; 7. On realisms; 8. On misreading by the literary; 9. Survey; 10. Poetry; 11. The experiment; Epilogue; Appendix.

Additional information

GOR003716053
9780521093507
0521093503
An Experiment in Criticism by C. S. Lewis
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Cambridge University Press
1961-01-01
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - An Experiment in Criticism