The Demon of Theory. Literature and Common Sense
14.99 €
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The Demon of Theory. Literature and Common Sense
14.99 €
Antoine Compagnon (b. 1950) is a French literary scholar, professor at the College de France and Columbia University, and the author of several dozen monographs and popular science books on modernism, structuralism, and French literary figures, from Montaigne and Pascal to Proust and Colette.
His "The Demon of Theory" (1998), translated into more than a dozen world languages, is both a profound, insightful review of the achievements and failures of the vibrant and controversial cultural movement of the second half of the 20th century called "literary theory," and a fascinating, lively, and sometimes ironic analysis of the key issues considered by contemporary literary criticism and narratology.
Compagnon groups the key problems of theory into seven conditional categories: "literature," "author," "outside world," "reader," "style," "history," and "value." Around each he builds a polemical plot, chronicling the confrontation between radical theorists and the so-called common sense supporters who resist them, critically assessing both polar positions and calling on his readers to take a skeptical view of any theory – including the theory of common sense.
His "The Demon of Theory" (1998), translated into more than a dozen world languages, is both a profound, insightful review of the achievements and failures of the vibrant and controversial cultural movement of the second half of the 20th century called "literary theory," and a fascinating, lively, and sometimes ironic analysis of the key issues considered by contemporary literary criticism and narratology.
Compagnon groups the key problems of theory into seven conditional categories: "literature," "author," "outside world," "reader," "style," "history," and "value." Around each he builds a polemical plot, chronicling the confrontation between radical theorists and the so-called common sense supporters who resist them, critically assessing both polar positions and calling on his readers to take a skeptical view of any theory – including the theory of common sense.
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