The Rhetoric Of Fiction (Presentation Copy Inscribed By Author To Laurence David Lerner)

Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1961. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. [Xviii], 455 Pp. Violet Cloth Spine, Gilt, Green Cloth Covered Boards. First Printing. Bookplate Of Author, Critic, And Lecturer Laurence David Lerner From The Author, "For Larry, Who Has Gone On Teaching Me (See Acknowledgments Wayne Feb. 12, 1970", And With The Publisher's "Compliments Of The Author" Slip. Also With A Loose Slip With Lerner's Notes, A Few Of His Light Pencil Marks And Marginalia, A London Airport Coach Ticket, And Some Browning To Front Endpapers Where Something Else Was Laid In Loosely. Laurence (David) Lerner (1925 - 2016), Often Called Larry, Was A South African-Born British Literary Critic And Poet And Novelist. Also A Lecturer, He Taught In Many Universities Around The World. Laurence Lerner Was Born In Cape Town, South Africa; His Jewish Father Israel Was From Zhitomir, Ukraine And His Mother May From Abinger Hammer, England. He Was Educated At St George's Grammar School, Cape Town, The University Of Cape Town And Pembroke College, Cambridge. He Was Lecturer In English, From 1949 To 1953 At The University College Of The Gold Coast In West Africa, From 1953 To 1962 Tutor Then Lecturer In English At Queen's University Belfast (Where One Of His Students Was Seamus Heaney), Lecturer Then Reader Then Professor Of English At The University Of Sussex (1962-84), And Edwin Mims Professor Of English At Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee (1985-95). He Won The 1991 Harvie Branscomb Distinguished Professor Award. Lerner Taught In Many Universities Around The World In Addition To Those Where He Had Jobs. The Former Included Munich, Dijon, Various Places In The Us And Canada, Kashmir, Wurzburg, Vienna, And British Council Lecture Tours In France, Germany, Spain, South America, Turkey And India. These Experiences Led To His Most Personal Book, Wandering Professor. Although He Described Himself As A Follower Who Was Surprised To Be Accepted, Lerner Was An Active Member Of The Society Of Friends (Quakers), Attending Brighton, Nashville And Then Lewes Meetings. For Many Years, He Taught A Shakespeare Summer School At The Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre. He Gave The Swarthmore Lecture In 1984 (The Two Cinnas - Quakerism, Revolution And Poetry). He Was Clerk To The Lewes Meeting For Several Years. He Was Also A Governor Of Leighton Park School, A Quaker School In England. He Published Nine Collections Of Poetry, Three Novels, Ten Books Of Literary Criticism, Reflections On English Language Usage And Life As A Professor, And Lectures, Essays And Poems. He Edited Two Anthologies Of Modern Literary Criticism Of Shakespeare's Plays For Penguin Books, Which Were Widely Used By A-Level Students In The Uk. Wayne Clayson Booth (1921 - 2005) Was An American Literary Critic. He Was The George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus In English Language & Literature And The College At The University Of Chicago. His Work Followed Largely From The Chicago School Of Literary Criticism. He Taught English At Haverford College And Earlham College Before Moving Back To The University Of Chicago. In What Was Likely Booth's Most-Recognized Book, The Rhetoric Of Fiction, He Argued That All Narrative Is A Form Of Rhetoric. The Book Can Be Seen As His Critique Of Those He Viewed As Mainstream Critics. Booth Argues That Beginning Roughly With Henry James, Critics Began To Emphasize The Difference Between "Showing" And "Telling" In Fiction And Have Placed More And More Of A Dogmatic Premium On "Showing." Booth Argued That Despite The Realistic Effects That Modern Authors Have Achieved, Trying To Distinguish Narratives In This Way Is Simplistic And Deeply Flawed, Because Authors Invariably Both Show And Tell. Booth Observed That They Appear To Choose Between The Techniques Based Upon Decisions About How To Convey Their Various "Commitments" Along Various "Lines Of Interest," That Is, Rhetorical Means Of Persuading The Audience By "Showing." (See The Longer Wikipedia Article)