Of what use is literature to daily life? Why do writers exaggerate its cultural, political, and social importance? What is its overall value, given that most people have never been able to comprehend it at all? Just what is literature, and why does it seem it must be less intelligible than other kinds of writing? These are among the fundamental questions posed by Richard Poirier, the highly renowned American critic, in this strikingly original, lucid and tough-minded book. Treating works of literature as, in Emerson's words, "tokens of the everlasting effort to produce" -- exploiting the idea that there are hidden similarities between technology and literary production -- Poirer extends and enriches the Emersonian tradition. - Jacket flap.