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Pleasures of Reading in an Ideological Age
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Pleasures of Reading in an Ideological Age Paperback - 1990

by Robert Alter; Alexander Whitney Knowlton

A distinguished critic rescues literature from the ivory tower and reestablishes reading as a personal source of complex pleasure and insight.


From the publisher

From one of our premier literary scholars, here is a learned and witty introduction to the "sheer vitality of literature and the satisfactions of a close, informed engagement with it" (New York Times). Robert Alter's illumination of the unique power of reading literature is especially valuable at a time when we are surrounded by electronic texts that distract more than engage and when the special claims of literature are disparaged by the high priests of literary theory. Alter explores the strategies that distinguish literature--the resources of style, the dynamics of allusion, the formal design of structure, the play of perspective in narrative. He draws on copious examples from the great works of literary art--from the Book of Genesis to Shakespeare, Conrad, and Nabokov--to illustrate his analysis of what makes reading a source of complex pleasure and insight.

Details

  • Title Pleasures of Reading in an Ideological Age
  • Author Robert Alter; Alexander Whitney Knowlton
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition First Paperback
  • Pages 260
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher W. W. Norton & Company, Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
  • Date 1990-06-01
  • ISBN 9780393314991 / 0393314995
  • Weight 0.72 lbs (0.33 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.54 x 5.6 x 0.6 in (21.69 x 14.22 x 1.52 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Canon (Literature), Books and reading
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 88036590
  • Dewey Decimal Code 028.9

Media reviews

Citations

  • Publishers Weekly, 09/30/1996, Page 0
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The Pleasures of Reading: In an Ideological Age
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The Pleasures of Reading: In an Ideological Age
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