Genius to Improve an Invention: Literary Transitions - Softcover

Boitani, Piero

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0268029512 ISBN 13: 9780268029517

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press, 2002

Synopsis

The Genius to Improve an Invention derives its title from John Dryden’s phrase for the British tendency to take up literary masterpieces from the past and “perfect” them. Distinguished literary scholar Piero Boitani adopts Dryden’s notion as a framework for exploring ways in which classical and medieval texts, scenes, and themes have been rewritten by modern authors.

Boitani focuses on a concept of literary transition that takes into account both T.S. Eliot’s idea of “tradition and individual talent” and Harold Bloom’s “anxiety of influence.” In five elegant essays he examines a wide range of authors and texts, including Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Voltaire, Goethe, Sartre, Dante, and Keats. Appearing for the first time in an English translation, The Genius to Improve an Invention will appeal to anyone interested in the Western literary tradition.

About this title

About the Author

Piero Boitani is professor of comparative literature at the University of Rome, “La Sapienza.” He is the founding president of the European Society for English Studies and a fellow of the British Academy. In 2002, he was awarded the Feltrinelli Prize for Literary Criticism―Italy’s most prestigious literary award. Boitani is the author of numerous books, including The Shadow of Ulysses and The Bible and Its Rewritings.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0268029512
• ISBN 13: 9780268029517
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208