Ethics, Literature, and Theory: An Introductory ReaderStephen K. George Do the rich descriptions and narrative shapings of literature provide a valuable resource for readers, writers, philosophers, and everyday people to imagine and confront the ultimate questions of life? Do the human activities of storytelling and complex moral decision-making have a deep connection? What are the moral responsibilities of the artist, critic, and reader? What can religious perspectives-from Catholic to Protestant to Mormon-contribute to literary criticism? Thirty well known contributors reflect on these questions, including iterary theorists Marshall Gregory, James Phelan, and Wayne Booth; philosophers Martha Nussbaum, Richard Hart, and Nina Rosenstand; and authors John Updike, Charles Johnson, Flannery O'Connor, and Bernard Malamud. Divided into four sections, with introductory matter and questions for discussion, this accessible anthology represents the most crucial work today exploring the interdisciplinary connections between literature, religion and philosophy. |
Contents
Ethical Criticism and Literary Theory | 1 |
The Moral Connections of Literary Texts | 11 |
Why Ethical Criticism Can Never Be Simple | 23 |
Copyright | |
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action aesthetic American argument artist audience believe Bigger Booth Catholic censorship Chapter character choice Christian claim classroom concerns culture DISCUSSION QUESTIONS effect emotional emotivism essay ethical criticism ethical theory evil example experience F. R. Leavis feel fiction Flannery O'Connor friends Gattaca Huck Huck's Huckleberry Finn human ical imagination implied author issues John John Gardner John Steinbeck kind language Lennie Lionel Trilling literary criticism literary study literary theory literature lives matter mean mind Mingo Moral Fiction moral philosophy Morrison Moses murder narrative nature novel Nussbaum person perspective poem poetry poets political Quaker reader reading relationship religious responsibility rhetoric role sense Sethe Sethe's simply social society Steinbeck story T. S. Eliot teacher teaching telling things thought tion truth ture Twain Uncle Tom's Cabin understand University Press values violence words writing York