The Value of Literature - Softcover

McGregor, Rafe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1783489243 ISBN 13: 9781783489244

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield International, 2017

Synopsis

In The Value of Literature, Rafe McGregor employs a unique approach – the combination of philosophical work on value theory and critical work on the relationship between form and content – to present a new argument for, and defence of, literary humanism. He argues that literature has value for art, for culture, and for humanity – in short, that it matters. Unlike most contemporary defenders of literary value, the author's strategy does not involve arguing that literature is good as a means to one of the various ends that matter to human beings. It is not that literature necessarily makes us cleverer, more sensitive, more virtuous, more creative, or just generally better people. Nor is it true that there is a necessary relation between literature and edification, clarification, cultural critique, catharsis, or therapy. Rather than offer an argument that forges a tenuous link between literature and truth, or literature and virtue, or literature and the sacred, this book analyses the non-derivative, sui generic value characteristic of literature and demonstrates why that matters as an end in itself.

About this title

About the Author

Rafe McGregor is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Edge Hill University. He specialises in aesthetic education, ideologically-motivated crime, and criminological fiction. He is the author of The Value of Literature, two novels, and over 250 journal articles, review essays, and short stories.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield International
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1783489243
• ISBN 13: 9781783489244
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 173