This timely book argues that the institutionalisation of literary theory, particularly within American and British academic circles, has led to a sterility of thought which ignores the special character of literary art. Mark Edmundson traces the origins of this tendency to the ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry, in which Plato took the side of philosophy; and he shows how the work of modern theorists - Foucault, Derrida, de Man and Bloom - exhibits similar drives to subsume poetic art into some 'higher' kind of thought. Challenging and controversial, this book should be read by all teachers of literature and of theory, and by anyone concerned about the future of institutionalised literary studies.
- ISBN13 9780521410939
- Publish Date 15 June 1995
- Publish Status Inactive
- Out of Print 2 March 2005
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Cambridge University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 255
- Language English