Great Ideas in the Western Literary CanonThis book examines 'great ideas'- the term used generically to refer to the deep-seated anxieties that art, religion and philosophy all seek to address- in relation to a selection of great literary texts. The texts chosen are those that remain, often centuries after their appearance, beacons of illumination and wisdom. The twelve chapters of this book each deal with one great text and the central idea that propels it. The ideas are examined as events possessed of their own field of resonance, and it is by tracing them in their narrative, dramatic or lyrical development that one can appreciate how these great texts speak as powerfully as they do to generations of readers. |
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Page 3
... follow . This unity of the contradictory forces of joy and destruction is embodied in the main subject of the epic ... follows the flow of events . It is an inherently dynamic approach to events and thus is indifferent to the more ...
... follow . This unity of the contradictory forces of joy and destruction is embodied in the main subject of the epic ... follows the flow of events . It is an inherently dynamic approach to events and thus is indifferent to the more ...
Page 51
... follows Virgil's lead in both capacities . Like Virgil , Dante saw himself as the seer of a new peace to come ( discussed in the next section ) . The fact that Virgil is the greatest of classical poets also sets the standard for him to ...
... follows Virgil's lead in both capacities . Like Virgil , Dante saw himself as the seer of a new peace to come ( discussed in the next section ) . The fact that Virgil is the greatest of classical poets also sets the standard for him to ...
Page 127
... follow . The false view of freedom is to think that what we choose to do necessarily leads us to what we want . Satan wanted to topple God , but while he was free to want it , he is never free to get it . Likewise , while he is free to ...
... follow . The false view of freedom is to think that what we choose to do necessarily leads us to what we want . Satan wanted to topple God , but while he was free to want it , he is never free to get it . Likewise , while he is free to ...
Contents
The Religion of Fear | 19 |
The Power of Love | 37 |
Rabelais Vitalism OR Feasting Flagons | 61 |
Copyright | |
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Achilles aesthetic Agamemnon Aloysha Antonio Ariel Baudelaire Baudelaire's become believe Brothers Karamazov Caliban chapter character Charles Baudelaire Chitterlings Christian Church Comedy creates Dante Dante's death desire devil divine Dmitry Don Quixote Dostoyevsky dream emotional ennui existence faith father Faust fear feeling Flowers of Evil forces freedom Fyodor Gargantua Gargantua and Pantagruel God's gods Gonzalo Greek heart Heaven Hell hero Homer human idea Inferno Inquisitor Ivan Ivan's Joyce Joyce's king knight literary live London Mephistopheles Milton Miranda moral narrative narrator nature novel Oedipus Oedipus the King pagan Paissy Pantagruel Panurge Paradise Patroclus philosophical play poem poet poetic poetry political pride Prospero Proust Purgatorio Rabelais rage Rakitin reader religious Robert Fagles Roman Satan says scene Search of Lost sense Shakespeare Smerdyakov social Sophocles soul spirit steeple Stephen suffering tells Tempest tragedy truth University Press Virgil virtue vision wants wisdom words writing Zossima