W. K. Wimsatt – författare

Literary Criticism: Idea and Act: The English Institute, 1939–1972: Selected Essays delves into the rich intellectual legacy of the English Institute, tracing its evolution from its inception in 1939 through its significant influence on American literary criticism over three decades. This anthology captures the diversity of critical approaches, scholarly debates, and cultural dialogues that shaped the study of literature in the 20th century. From discussions on editing and philological studies to groundbreaking interpretations of poetry, drama, and prose, the essays reflect a dynamic interplay between traditional scholarship and emergent critical theories. Key figures like Cleanth Brooks, Northrop Frye, and Geoffrey Hartman explore themes ranging from structuralism and archetypes to the aesthetics of modernity, demonstrating the Institute's role as a crucible for literary innovation.The volume also serves as a historical record, detailing the transition from early gatherings focused on practical criticism to a broader engagement with interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives. The essays selected highlight pivotal moments in literary scholarship, such as the rise of New Criticism, the reimagining of Romantic and modernist texts, and the enduring relevance of classical poetics. Through its thoughtful curation, the book offers both a panoramic view of literary criticism's development and a testament to the enduring impact of the English Institute in fostering critical thought and intellectual exchange.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.

Literary Criticism: Idea and Act: The English Institute, 1939–1972: Selected Essays delves into the rich intellectual legacy of the English Institute, tracing its evolution from its inception in 1939 through its significant influence on American literary criticism over three decades. This anthology captures the diversity of critical approaches, scholarly debates, and cultural dialogues that shaped the study of literature in the 20th century. From discussions on editing and philological studies to groundbreaking interpretations of poetry, drama, and prose, the essays reflect a dynamic interplay between traditional scholarship and emergent critical theories. Key figures like Cleanth Brooks, Northrop Frye, and Geoffrey Hartman explore themes ranging from structuralism and archetypes to the aesthetics of modernity, demonstrating the Institute's role as a crucible for literary innovation.The volume also serves as a historical record, detailing the transition from early gatherings focused on practical criticism to a broader engagement with interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives. The essays selected highlight pivotal moments in literary scholarship, such as the rise of New Criticism, the reimagining of Romantic and modernist texts, and the enduring relevance of classical poetics. Through its thoughtful curation, the book offers both a panoramic view of literary criticism's development and a testament to the enduring impact of the English Institute in fostering critical thought and intellectual exchange.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.

The sixteen essays in this volume form a series of related focuses upon various levels and areas of literary criticism. W.K. Wimsatt's assumption is that practice and theory of both the past and the present are integrally related-that there is a continuity in the materials of criticism-that a person who studies poetry today has a critical concern, not merely a historical interest, in what Aristotle or Plato said about poetry. He regards the great perennial problems of criticism as arising not by the whim of a tolerantly pluralist choice, but from the nature of language and reality.With profound learning and insight, Wimsatt treats almost the whole range of literary criticism. The first group of essays deals with fallacies he believes are involved in prevalent approaches to the literary object. The next two groups face the responsibilities of the critic who defends literature as a form of knowledge; they treat various problems of structure and style. The last group undertakes to examine the relation of literature to other arts, the relation of evaluative criticism to historical studies, and the relation of literature not only to morals, but more broadly to the whole complex of the Christian religious tradition.