Read The Critics Bear it away: American Fiction and the Academy by Frederick C. Crews (1992-12-31)

The Critics Bear it away: American Fiction and the Academy by Frederick C. Crews (1992-12-31)

Frederick Crews

4.9/5 (16467 ratings)

Description:Frederick Crews has been a force in American literary culture ever since his hilarious spoof of criticism, The Pooh Perplex, made its way onto the bestseller lists in 1963. Now, in The Critics Bear It Away, he turns his attention to the way key American novelists - from Hawthorne, Melville, Stowe, and Twain to Hemingway, Faulkner, O'Connor, and Updike - are being apprehended, and misapprehended, by the academic avant-garde. As Crews shows, recent theoretical discourse takes a justifiably hard line toward the liberal humanism and formalism that dominated the discussion of American classics for many years following World War II. As academics have become more distrustful of the social attitudes that produced a largely white-male, New England-based canon, they have developed a dramatically altered account of standard authors - sometimes indicting them for ideological deficiencies, sometimes attempting to render their texts more congenial through "decentered" techniques of analysis. With relentless logic and a keen eye for the telling detail, Crews shows what is gained and, more often, what is sacrificed by such well-intentioned maneuvers. Are we really better off, he asks, with a Mark Twain who has been stripped of his idiosyncratic wit and reduced to the level of contemporaries whose prejudices he may have shared? Conversely, should we rejoice when methodological sleight-of-hand makes Faulkner's blatant sexism and Flannery O'Connor's Catholic pietism disappear? This is not to say, however, that Crews exercises his skepticism only on proposals from academic trendsetters. The Critics Bear It Away is just as unsparing toward traditionalists who want the cultural clock to be forever stopped at 1945. Crews's purpose is not to support a faction but to expose critical illusions. "And the particular illusions I will be examining," he announces, "originate in conservative as well as radical impulses - in, for example, New Critical formalism, orthodox intentionalism, ChristWe have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with The Critics Bear it away: American Fiction and the Academy by Frederick C. Crews (1992-12-31). To get started finding The Critics Bear it away: American Fiction and the Academy by Frederick C. Crews (1992-12-31), you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Pages: —

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: —

Release: —

ISBN

Description: Frederick Crews has been a force in American literary culture ever since his hilarious spoof of criticism, The Pooh Perplex, made its way onto the bestseller lists in 1963. Now, in The Critics Bear It Away, he turns his attention to the way key American novelists - from Hawthorne, Melville, Stowe, and Twain to Hemingway, Faulkner, O'Connor, and Updike - are being apprehended, and misapprehended, by the academic avant-garde. As Crews shows, recent theoretical discourse takes a justifiably hard line toward the liberal humanism and formalism that dominated the discussion of American classics for many years following World War II. As academics have become more distrustful of the social attitudes that produced a largely white-male, New England-based canon, they have developed a dramatically altered account of standard authors - sometimes indicting them for ideological deficiencies, sometimes attempting to render their texts more congenial through "decentered" techniques of analysis. With relentless logic and a keen eye for the telling detail, Crews shows what is gained and, more often, what is sacrificed by such well-intentioned maneuvers. Are we really better off, he asks, with a Mark Twain who has been stripped of his idiosyncratic wit and reduced to the level of contemporaries whose prejudices he may have shared? Conversely, should we rejoice when methodological sleight-of-hand makes Faulkner's blatant sexism and Flannery O'Connor's Catholic pietism disappear? This is not to say, however, that Crews exercises his skepticism only on proposals from academic trendsetters. The Critics Bear It Away is just as unsparing toward traditionalists who want the cultural clock to be forever stopped at 1945. Crews's purpose is not to support a faction but to expose critical illusions. "And the particular illusions I will be examining," he announces, "originate in conservative as well as radical impulses - in, for example, New Critical formalism, orthodox intentionalism, ChristWe have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with The Critics Bear it away: American Fiction and the Academy by Frederick C. Crews (1992-12-31). To get started finding The Critics Bear it away: American Fiction and the Academy by Frederick C. Crews (1992-12-31), you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Special Offer | $0.00

Special Offer! | $0.00

The Critics Bear it away: American Fiction and the Academy by Frederick C. Crews (1992-12-31)

The Critics Bear it away: American Fiction and the Academy by Frederick C. Crews (1992-12-31)

More Books

Freud: The Making of an Illusion

Freud: The Making of an Illusion

The Pooh Perplex

The Pooh Perplex

Postmodern Pooh (Rethinking Theory)

Postmodern Pooh (Rethinking Theory)

The Memory Wars: Freud's Legacy in Dispute

The Memory Wars: Freud's Legacy in Dispute

Unauthorized Freud: Doubters Confront a Legend

Unauthorized Freud: Doubters Confront a Legend

Follies of the Wise: Dissenting Essays

Follies of the Wise: Dissenting Essays

The Random House Handbook

The Random House Handbook

The Critics Bear it Away: American Fiction and the Academy

The Critics Bear it Away: American Fiction and the Academy

The Borzoi Handbook for Writers

The Borzoi Handbook for Writers