Humane Readings: Essays on Literary Mediation and Communication in Honour of Roger D. SellJason Finch Since the 1980s, Roger D. Sell s literary criticism has striven to take account of the (often conflicting) approaches available without compromising the human importance of the literary work: either in terms of its creation or its reception. Sell s theory of literature draws strength from the interface between literary studies and linguistics and is grounded on the argument that literary making is a primary communicational act between human beings. Other critics have found Sell s work inspirational. This book both responds to Sell s ideas and demonstrates the multifaceted potential of his work. Aware of his trajectory through Literary-Pragmatic, Humanizing and Mediating criticism, "Humane Readings" offers a series of original and focused studies which demonstrate the power, provenance and importance of Sell s approach. Ranging in subject matter from the Early Modern Period to the present, a reconfiguration of literary criticism by contemporary readers and practitioners is urged here. Case studies are presented on a range of poetic, novelistic, dramatic and children s works. Each illuminates different aspects of Sell s critical thought." |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
This verse marks that | 17 |
Humanized intertexts | 31 |
Appearance and reality in Jane Austens Persuasion | 49 |
Green flowers and golden eyes | 61 |
When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean | 77 |
Place and communicative personae | 89 |
Tony Harrison and the rhetorics of reality | 107 |
Truthful histories in Michael Ondaatjes | 119 |
Pragmatic Penelope or timeless tales | 135 |
Three fallacies in interpreting literature | 145 |
| 157 | |
| 161 | |
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