Pleasures of Reading in Ideological Age—ROBERT ALTER—"First Rate"—I. HOWE

Description: • For your consideration: • A 1989 Hardcover edition of: • “THE PLEASURES of READING in an IDEOLOGICAL AGE” (Simon and Schuster, 1989) • BY ROBERT ALTER • “During the past two decades, structuralism, semiotics, feminism, Marxism, and other schools of thought have elevated abstract theories over original works of art, elite academic critics over ordinary readers, and various modes of interpretation or deconstruction over the primary experience of reading…. In THE PLEASURES OF READING IN AN IDEOLOGICAL AGE, ROBERT ALTER offers general readers and students of literature a constructive alternative to this trend.” —THE PUBLISHER • “A quiet and lucid counter-statement (learned, judicious, good-spirited) against the current excesses and fads in literary life.ROBERT ALTER’s THE PLEAUSRES OF READING is a first-rate piece of work. I read it with pleasure and profit.” —IRVING HOWE • “I read this book on the pleasures of reading straight through with great pleasure. It’s a fine book about one of the most stable and rewarding human activities—reading—by one of the most consistently rewarding critics writing today.” —LARRY MCMURTRY • “An invaluable work, which could hardly be more timely in its masterly defense of the values of literature. At a time when these values have ben depreciated, decried and denied altogether, it takes a critic of ALTER’s authority, sensitivity, and skill to remind us once again of just what riches we are in the process of losing.” —JOSEPH FRANK • “MR. ALTER is now, I fear, an exception among writers of criticism. He writes well and clearly, without jargon, and knows that ‘without some form of passionate engagement in literary works, without a sense of deep pleasure in the experience of reading, the whole enterprise of teaching and writing quickly becomes pointless.’ He knows all the latest theories and understands their jargon, reads them with an open mind, but draws the line against the destructive nihilism of those who deny the impact of literature on society, seeing it instead a verbal game or mere rhetorical exercise, not recognizing that there are observable distinctions between right and wrong interpretations.” —RENE WELLECK • “A book that ought to be placed in the hands of any person who shows the slightest interest in serious reading or in hearing a good, practical defense of high culture.” ―WALL STREET JOURNAL • “ALTER’s techniques of reading may occasionally seem old-fashioned, but, the wheel of fashion being what it is, they can once again use a restating. MR. ALTER’s response to deconstruction may not be entirely effective, but it is a timely reminder that reading is, after all, one of our more accessible pleasures. Sometimes it takes considerable courage to say the obvious; MR. ALTER has said the modest, needed thing at the right moment.” —EVA HOFFMAN, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • “A professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at UC Berkeley, [ALTER] offers this slim volume as a semi-polemical corrective to the trend in recent literary studies toward theory and a resulting ‘distancing—in the more extreme cases, an actual estrangement—from the experience of reading literature.’ In his defense of reading, the author examines basic components of literature--character, perspective, style, allusion, structure—and draws on the Bible, poetry and, above all, novels to illustrate how these varied elements, ‘engaged in constant, shifting interplay,’ provide readers with pleasure in part because they resist inclusion within the grand schemes of now-popular theoretical models.”—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY •• For other details, please see below. • TITLE: “THE PLEASURES OF READING IN AN IDEOLOGICAL AGE” AUTHOR: ROBERT ALTER TYPE: HARDCOVER PAGES: 251 PUBLISHER, LOCALE, & YEAR: Simon and Schuster (New York), 1989 ISBN: 0-671-62783-X EDITION: First Edition, Third Printing* *RE: On the Copyright Page, this Number Row: “3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4.” EDITION NOTE: This copy is NEITHER Ex-Library NOR a Book Club Edition. CONDITION of DUST JACKET: VERY GOOD.Price (18.95) is unclipped. Corners & spine tips are bumped. Edges are slightly discolored from aging. Minor signs of (normal) handling—scuffs, smudges—on sides. CONDITION of BOOK ITSELF: VERY GOOD PLUS.Book is square. Boards are clean. The top corner on front is slightly scuffed; the three other corners are sharp. Spine is tight with fine tips. Text-block edges & endpapers are fine. Pages are bright & clean (with no marks, etc.) & looks unread. SHIPPING NEWS: This book will be wrapped with care before being shipped in a cushioned & sturdy box. THANK YOU! ********************** /\___/\=•ᆺ•= “We believe it’s good business to be good to our customers.” *********** FLAPPINCAT’s HOUSE RULES ***********1. GENERAL TREATMENT. We enjoy treating FLAPPINCAT customers with honesty & respect & warmth because that’s how we like to be treated when we buy things on eBay.2. GENERAL ATTITUDE. We are grateful you choose to trust us with your business. 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Price: 15 USD

Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

End Time: 2024-10-12T15:18:27.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.75 USD