The Genesis of Secrecy (Paperback)
Language: English
Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1980
- Softcover
- New
Seller: CitiRetail, Stevenage, United KingdomCitiRetail
AbeBooks seller since June 29, 2022
Condition: New
£ 47.49
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Paperback. Frank Kermode has long held a distinctive place among modern critics. He brings to the study of literature a fine and fresh critical intelligence that is always richly suggestive, never modish. He offers here an inquiry-elegant in conception and style-into the art of interpretation. His subject quite simply is meanings; how they are revealed and how they are concealed.Drawing on the venerable tradition of biblical interpretation, Mr. Kermode examines some enigmatic passages and episodes in the gospels. From his reading come ideas about what makes interpretation possible-and often impossible. He considers ways in which narratives acquire opacity, and he asks whether there are methods of distinguishing all possible meaning from a central meaning which gives the story its structure. He raises questions concerning the interpretation of single texts in relation to their context in a writer's work and a tradition; considers the special interpretative problems of historical narration; and tries to relate the activities of the interpreter to interpretation more broadly conceived as a means of living in the world.While discussing the gospels, Mr. Kermode touches upon such literary works as Kafka's parables, Joyce's Ulysses, Henry James's novels, and Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49. By showing the relationships between religious interpretation and literary criticism, he has enhanced both fields. Kermode examines enigmatic passages and episodes in the gospels. From his reading come ideas about what makes interpretation possibleand often impossible. He considers ways in which narratives acquire opacity, and he asks whether there are methods of distinguishing all possible meaning from a central meaning which gives the story its structure. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.…
Seller Inventory # 9780674345355
- Title
- The Genesis of Secrecy (Paperback)
- Author
- Frank Kermode
- Publisher
- Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass
- Publication year
- 1980
- Condition
- new
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0674345355
- ISBN 13
- 9780674345355
“Brilliant…this book should encourage more literary critics to pick up their Bibles.”―Howard Eiland, Partisan Review
The celebrated critic deciphers the cryptic passages and concealed meanings in literature sacred and profane.
In a passage from the Gospel of Mark that has spawned more exegetical disputes than perhaps any other, the disciples question Jesus about why he so often speaks in parables. “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God,” he replies, “but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand.” The ostensible meaning of this passage seems shockingly unchristian: the true sense of Jesus’s stories―their secret―is reserved for the elect, for the insiders. Outsiders be damned.
In The Genesis of Secrecy, the prolific Frank Kermode draws upon this and other enigmatic passages in the Gospels to interrogate the fraught relationship between proclaimed meaning and concealed mystery, both in the New Testament and in modern secular literature. A resolute outsider to the rules and canons of Biblical exegesis, he asks how it is that textual dislocations or contradictory narrative elements are imbued with the grandeur of secret meaning. Departing from the Bible, he also asks what the art of interpretation looks like in a secular world, when the lines separating heresy from orthodoxy have become increasingly blurred.
Moving effortlessly between Scripture, philosophical hermeneutics, narrative theory, and twentieth-century literature from Joyce to Pynchon, Kermode concludes, pessimistically, that esoteric truths of the text are glimpsed but never finally revealed. Divination begets further divination. Secrecy remains “the source of the interpreter’s pleasures, but also of his necessary disappointment.”
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
CitiRetail
Stevenage, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since June 29, 2022
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
| Item | 7 to 14 business days | 7 to 60 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 37.00 | £ 37.00 |
Payment methods
Store description
Online business
Seller's business information
ABC BOOKS LIMITED
10 John Street
London, United Kingdom WC1N 2EB
Terms of sale
Orders can be returned within 30 days of receipt.
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to CitiRetail, Stevenage, United Kingdom, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.
Shipping terms
Please note that titles are dispatched from our US, Canadian or Australian warehouses. Delivery times specified in shipping terms. Orders ship within 2 business days. Delivery to your door then takes 7-14 days.