Heresies and Heretics

by Watson, George

• ISBN13: 9780718892920
• ISBN10: 0718892925
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-03-28
• Publisher: Lutterworth Pr

Summary

Heresies & Heretics: Memories of the Twentieth Century is an enjoyably iconoclastic book in which George Watson discusses some of the great heresies of the twentieth century, and the heretics who espoused them, often with surprising results.Watson provides us with examples of 'true', original heretics, many of whom he has met and taught; from Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, who asserted that his study of the remote past had made a radical of him, rather than any influence of modernism; and Douglas Adams, whom Watson knew as an undergraduate. In his witty and conversational style, Watson forces us to question various long-cherished political and intellectual assumptions. Is snobbery really such a bad thing? Have we ignored the links between socialism and genocide? He touches entertainingly upon subjects as diverse as literary theory (experimental fiction is often the last resort of those who have nothing to say), and the unoriginal conformism of teenage Marxists (incapable of actually reading Marx, as he is too boring).This is a work which will delight any reader seeking a uniquely personal perspective on the culture, history, and personalities of the twentieth century.