Customer Reviews

The Singularity of Literature

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An initial caveat: I didn't finish this book. I stopped about two-thirds of the way into it because, frankly, I found the book tedious by that point.

To be fair, Attridge's prose is very clear and readable, and he's produced a text that could potentially bridge the gap between professional and lay audiences. And, being accustomed to reading abstruse texts that induce a mixture of intense engagement and literal nausea, I did enjoy the book's brisk pace. For a while. But I eventually grew weary of the book's repetitive nature.

More significantly, the book suffers from a lack of originality. For anyone even casually familiar with the history of literary theory, none of Attridge's arguments will seem novel or original.

To sum up: Attridge has produced an accessible book for a reader who is curious about literary studies but doesn't want to wade through volumes of difficult texts. For anyone who has done some footwork, however, this book will be disappointing.