Literature, Analytically Speaking: Explorations in the Theory of Interpretation, Analytic Aesthetics, and Evolution (Cognitive Approaches to Literature and Culture)

ISBN: 0292721781

Author: Swirski, Peter

Condition: New

Product Description In a new approach to interdisciplinary literary theory, Literature, Analytically Speaking integrates literary studies with analytic aesthetics, girded by neo-Darwinian evolution. Scrutinizing narrative fiction through a lens provided by analytic philosophy, revered literary theorist Peter Swirski puts new life into literary theory while fashioning a set of practical guidelines for critics in the interpretive trenches.Dismissing critical inquirers who deny intention its key role in the study of literary reception, Swirski extends the defense of intentionality to art and to human behavior in general. In the process, Swirski takes stock of the recent work in evolutionary theory, arguing that the analysis of narrative truth may be grounded in the neo-Darwinian paradigm which forms the empirical backbone behind his analytic approach. Literature, Analytically Speaking provides a series of precepts designed to capture the ways in which we do interpret (and ought to interpret) works of literature. Reflecting a resounding shift from the poststructuralist paradigm, Swirski's lively and colorful presentation, backed up by a dazzling variety of examples and case studies, reconceptualizes the aesthetics of literature and literary studies. About the Author Peter Swirski is a Canadian scholar and literary critic featured in Canadian Who's Who. He is Amazon's #1 Bestseller in American History and Criticism and in Canadian Literary Criticism. Specialist in American literature and American Studies, and the world's foremost scholar on Stanislaw Lem, is the author of fifteen books, including the award-winning From Lowbrow to Nobrow (2005); Of Literature and Knowledge (2007); From Literature to Biterature: Lem, Turing, Darwin (2013); and From Highbrow to Nobrow (2016).