MARC Record from harvard_bibliographic_metadata

LEADER: 03750cam a2200481 i 4500
001 014209718-7
005 20141016105757.0
008 140522t20142014nyu b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2014009513
020 $a9781623563578 (paperback)
020 $a1623563577 (paperback)
020 $a9781623561062 (hardback)
020 $a162356106X (hardback)
035 0 $aocn880520976
040 $aDLC$erda$beng$cDLC$dYDX$dYDXCP$dOCLCF$dCDX
042 $apcc
050 00 $aPN3341$b.W39 2014
082 00 $a809.3/927$223
084 $aLIT006000$aLIT004020$2bisacsh
100 1 $aWaxler, Robert P.,$d1944-$eauthor.
245 14 $aThe risk of reading :$bhow literature helps us to understand ourselves and the world /$cRobert P. Waxler.
264 1 $aNew York, NY :$bBloomsbury,$c2014.
300 $a191 pages ;$c23 cm
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505 8 $aMachine generated contents note: -- 1. Story and Real Life2. The Creation Story3. Frankenstein 4. Alice in Wonderland5. Heart of Darkness 6. The Old Man and the Sea7. Catcher in the Rye8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest9. Fight Club10. The Sense of Ending 11. The Future of Literary NarrativeBibliographyIndex.
520 $a"The Risk of Reading is a defense of the idea that deep and close readings of literature can help us to understand ourselves and the world around us. It explores some of the meaning and implications of modern life through the deep reading of significant books. Waxler argues that we need "fiction" to give our so-called "real life" meaning and that reading narrative fiction remains crucial to the making of a humane and democratic society.Beginning by exploring the implications of thinking about the importance of story in terms of "real life", The Risk of Reading focuses on the importance of human language, especially language shaped into narrative, and how that language is central to the human quest for identity. Waxler argues that we are "linguistic beings," and that reading literary narrative is a significant way to enrich and preserve the traditional sense of human identity and knowledge. This is especially true in the midst of a culture which too often celebrates visual images, spectacle, electronic devices, and celebrity. Reading narrative, in other words, should be considered a counter-cultural activity crucial on the quest to "know thyself." Reading literature is one of the best opportunities we have today to maintain a coherent human identity and remain self-reflective individuals in a world that seems particularly chaotic and confusing. Each chapter takes up a well-known work of nineteenth- or twentieth-century literature in order to discuss more fully these issues, exploring, in particular, the notion of life as a journey or quest and the crucial relationship between language and our contingent everyday existence. Of particular interest along the way is the question of what literary narrative can teach us about our mortality and how stories offer opportunities to reflect on the ambivalent and profound meaning of mortal knowledge"--$cProvided by publisher.
650 0 $aFiction.
650 0 $aBooks and reading.
650 0 $aLiterature$xPhilosophy.
650 0 $aSelf-actualization (Psychology)
650 7 $aLITERARY CRITICISM / Semiotics & Theory.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aLITERARY CRITICISM / American / General.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aBooks and reading.$2fast
650 7 $aFiction.$2fast
650 7 $aLiterature$xPhilosophy.$2fast
650 7 $aSelf-actualization (Psychology)$2fast
899 $a415_565471
988 $a20141016
049 $aHLSS
906 $0DLC