The World, the Text, and the CriticA sweeping and intellectually rigorous work of literary criticism that moves the field forward, from one of the preeminent public scholars “[Said’s] book is relaxed and discursive, original, immensely learned, fluently written.”―John Bayley, The New York Times Book Review Edward W. Said, author of Beginnings and the controversial yet seminal Orientalism, is one of the most acclaimed public intellectuals of our time. In this sweeping and rigorous work of literary criticism, he pushes the field even further forward. Moving from Derrida to Foucault, from Marxism to psychoanalysis, and from Swift to Conrad, Said argues that the dogmas of the dominant culture have crippled our engagement with literature, forcing a text to meet the requirements of theory while ignoring the tethers that bind it to the living world. Provocatively, Said advocates for freedom of consciousness and for responsiveness to history; to the exigencies of the text; to political, social, and human values; and to the heterogeneity of human experience. The World, the Text, and the Critic asks daring questions, investigates problems of urgent significance, and gives a subtle yet powerful new meaning to the enterprise of criticism in modern society. |
Contents
| 1 | |
The World the Text and the Critic | 31 |
Swifts Tory Anarchy | 54 |
Swift as Intellectual | 72 |
The Presentation of Narrative | 90 |
On Repetition | 111 |
On Originality | 126 |
Roads Taken and Not Taken in Contemporary Criticism | 140 |
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activity affiliation Arnold Auerbach authority become called century Conrad course critical consciousness culture Derrida Descartes described discipline discourse dominant English English studies essay European existence fact filiation Foucault François Jacob Goldmann Gramsci Gulliver's Travels human Ibid ical ideas important institutions intellectual interest interpretation Islam knowledge language linguistic literary criticism literary theory literature Lord Jim Louis Bonaparte Lukacs Mallarmé Marlow Marx Marxist Massignon matter means method Michel Foucault modern narrative notion novel object Orientalism originality Paris philology philosophy political position possible present problem produced question R. P. Blackmur reader reading reality reification relationship Renaissance Renan repetition role scholar scholarship Schwab seems sense situation social society sort speak Swift T. S. Eliot text's textual theoretical things thought tion tive tradition trans ture University Press verbal Vico Western words worldly writing York Zahirite