The Beauty of Inflections: Literary Investigations in Historical Method and Theory [Hardcover]

Jerome J. McGann (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198117302 | ISBN-13: 978-0198117308 | Publication Date: June 27, 1985

With emphasis on the theoretical and methodological, the studies collected here serve a dual purpose: to explore the fault lines that mark various kinds of ahistorical literary studies from New Criticism to Poststructuralism; and to develop a fully elaborated socio-historical criticism for literary works. McGann moves toward his goal by means of four special sets of investigations: the relation between the so-called "autonomous" poem and its political/historical contexts; the relation of reception and history to literary interpretation; the problems of canon and the characterization of period; and the ideological dimensions of both literary works and criticism of such works. Central to his enquiry is the notion that, whether viewed as an experience or as an event, a literary work is a nexus of various concrete social determinations that can be specified as an aesthetic order.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A coherent, forcefully argued book....McGann addresses a number of persuasive instances from the writings of Byron, Keats, Blake, Dickinson, Auden, and others to demonstrate the intricacies of textual production and transmission, and he proves...that beneficial knowledge for scholarship and pleasurable fascination for the critic result from a reconceived and enlarged definition of textual scholarship and bibliography."--Virginia Quarterly Review

"Few practicing critics can speak concurrently on scholarly, critical, and theoretical issues with the authority of McGann....The Beauty of Inflections represents a major practical and theoretical intervention."--Modern Language Notes

"The essays...exhibit wide and careful reading in the service of a criticism that is refreshing, even moving, in its advocacy of an old poetical ideal."--Victorian Poetry

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jerome J. McGann is at University of Virginia. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 27, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198117302
• ISBN-13: 978-0198117308
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,386,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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