A Defense of Poetry: Reflections on the Occasion of Writing

Paul Fry (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This book argues that literature can be defined—pragmatist and historicist arguments notwithstanding—and that in its definition its unique value can be discovered. The author identifies literature ontologically as a sign of the preconceptual, as the “ostensive moment” that discloses neither the purpose nor the structure of existence but existence itself, revealed in its nonhuman register.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 268 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; First edition. edition (July 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804724520
• ISBN-13: 978-0804724524
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,438,523 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable book, July 10, 2006

By	Robert J. Meyerlee - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Defense of Poetry: Reflections on the Occasion of Writing (Paperback)

Fry's philosophically erudite book places challenges on its readers, but no more than those of many of the thinkers with whom he wrestles, e.g., Heidegger. Mounting a defense of poetry means, more often than not, defining poetic language or practice as phenomenologically distinct, a project which Fry's book pursues with subtlety and great intellectual power. Future claims about the nature of the literary must take into account the position Fry takes here.

7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Check out the following sentence:, August 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Defense of Poetry: Reflections on the Occasion of Writing (Paperback)

"It is the moment of non-construction, disclosing the absentation of actuality from the concept in part through its invitation to emphasize, in reading, the helplessness--rather than the will to power--of its fall into conceptuality."

That is pretty much the kind of thing you can expect from this book--formulations that follow the meandering course of Paul Fry's thought, as he stumbles flailing after his own pretty, fluttering reflection on the "occasion of reading", which--alas--escapes both him and us. Paul Fry stands blinking in the sunlight, his butterfly net empty and his tongue unloosened.

6 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Specious drivel., August 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Defense of Poetry: Reflections on the Occasion of Writing (Paperback)

A Defense of Poetry is possibly the most irrelevant book I've ever read or even looked at. Paul Fry needs to rouse himself from his stupor and realize that his entire career has been a very long waste of time.

The "occasion" of writing: how pretty!