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In the aftermath of the theory wars, the imaginative, formal, and moral features of literature have been substantially marginalized, downgraded, and neglected. Yet for many readers such elements will always be central to the experience of reading, just as for writers they are central to the experience of writing. This provocative study argues that literature has an abundant life of its own, and reconsiders that life in the contexts provided by three influential contemporary groups of critics: some North American philosophers; some psychoanalysts; and some theorists of history.
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The Autonomy of Literature Richard Lansdown lansdown/92908/crc 29/11/00 3:18 pm The Autonomy of Literature Page 1 lansdown/92908/crc 29/11/00 3:18 pm Also by Richard Lansdown BYRON’S HISTORICAL DRAMAS Page 2 lansdown/92908/crc 29/11/00 3:18 pm Page 3 The Autonomy of Literature Richard Lansdown Lecturer in English James Cook University Cairns Queensland Australia lansdown/92908/crc 29/11/00 3:18 pm Page 4 First published in Great Britain 2001 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0–333–92134–8 First published in the United States of America 2001 by ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, LLC, Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 0–333–92134–8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lansdown, Richard, 1961– The autonomy of literature / Richard Lansdown. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–333–92134–8 1. Criticism—History—20th century. 2. Criticism—United States– –History—20th century. 3. Criticism—Great Britain—History—20th century. 4. Literature, Modern—20th century—History and criticism. I. Title. PN94 .L36 2000 801'.95—dc21 00–041517 © Richard Lansdown 2001 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10 10 9 09 8 08 7 07 6 06 5 05 4 04 3 03 2 02 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire 1 01 for my mother and my father Contents Acknowledgements viii Introduction 1 1 Institutionalism and Ideality 12 2 ‘A New Spin on the Old Words’: Criticism and Philosophy 2.1 2.2 2.3 Richard Rorty Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor Martha Nussbaum 3 ‘These Shafts Can Conquer Troy, These Shafts Alone’: Criticism and Psychoanalysis 4 5 49 51 63 78 95 3.1 Freud 3.2 Object relations 3.3 ‘The Secret Sharer’ 98 120 128 ‘A Province of Truth’: Criticism and History 145 4.1 4.2 4.3 146 150 176 R.G. Collingwood New Historicism Hayden White and Paul Ricoeur Four Objec