In this Book
- Fiction Sets You Free: Literature, Liberty, and Western Culture
- Book
- 2007
- Published by: University of Iowa Press
summary
In what can only be called a genuine intellectual adventure, Russell Berman raises fundamental questions long ignored by literary scholars; Why does literature command our attention at all? Why would society want to cultivate a sphere of activity devoted to the careful study of literary fiction? Written as a tonic to what he calls the debilitating cultural relativism of contemporary literary studies, Fiction Sets You Free advances the innovative argument that literature and capitalism, rather than representing merely commercialization, actually belie a long and positive association: literary autonomy is a central part of modern Western culture, thoroughly intertwined with political democracy and free market capitalism.
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- p. ix
- Why Literature Matters
- pp. xi-xxi
- Introduction
- pp. 1-10
- 1. Periodization and the Canon
- pp. 11-23
- 3. Writing and Heroism
- pp. 61-82
- 4. Literacy and Autonomy
- pp. 83-100
- 5. The Epic and the Individual
- pp. 101-118
- 6. Religion and Writing
- pp. 119-148
- 7. The Democracy of Literature
- pp. 149-178
- 8. Imagination and Economy
- pp. 179-206
- Bibliography
- pp. 223-228
Additional Information
ISBN
9781587297090
Related ISBN(s)
9781587296048
DOI
MARC Record
OCLC
631693951
Pages
296
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2007