Community, Religion, and Literature

by Cleanth Brooks

Overview

As the last collection of Cleanth Brooks's essays before his death, Community, Religion, and Literature represents his final, considered views on the reading of literature and the role it plays in our society. He argues that the proper and essential role of literature lies in giving us our sense of community. Yet he denounces the extent to which literature, too, is now being usurped by the critics who see writing as pure language. He believes that just as religion renders truth of another sort, so literature is an expression of the "truth about human beings." More and more in this age of science, literature has "assumed the burden of providing civilization with its values."

Community, Religion, and Literature offers students of literature the opportunity to understand what Cleanth Brooks was actually saying, rather than what others have said he was saying.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826209931
Publisher:	University of Missouri Press
Publication date:	04/01/1995
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.13(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Cleanth Brooks, one of the nation's most distinguished critics, editors, and teachers, is the author of Modern Poetry and the Tradition, The Well Wrought Urn, A Shaping Joy, and Historical Evidence and the Reading of Seventeenth-Century Poetry (University of Missouri Press)

Editorial Reviews

"At a time when there is a danger that academics are neglecting—if they are not losing—the art of reading literary texts, it is especially refreshing to be reminded of the exemplary way in which Cleanth Brooks practiced this art and, through his books, transmitted it to others. No scholar-critic has played a greater role in introducing generations of students to the close analysis of poems. These essays are fine representatives of his dedication to literature."—Murray Krieger

From the Publisher

Twenty-two essays reflect Brooks' views on the reading of literature and the role it plays in our society. He argues that the vital role of literature lies in giving us our sense of community and denounces the extent to which literature is now being usurped by the critics who see writing as pure language, asserting in response that as religion renders truth of a certain sort, so literature expresses the "truth about human beings." Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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