William Empson: The Critical Achievement

by Edited by Christopher Norris , Nigel Mapp

• ISBN13: 9780521118866
• ISBN10: 0521118867
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

William Empson (1906SH84) was one of the twentieth century's most distinctive critical voices, and left a profound mark upon Anglo-American literary culture. This book is the first full study of Empson's literary criticism in its various aspects, taking account of recent developments in critical theory and of Empson's complex SH at times deeply antagonistic SH attitude towards those developments. In their diversity of viewpoint and critical approach the nine essays reflect this sturdy resistance to fashionable trends of 'Eng. Lit.' opinion. Topics include the relations between Empson and Derrida's approaches to the issue of textual 'undecidability', and Empson's prominent (if unwilling role) in the shaping of English as an academic discourse. Christopher Norris's extended introduction charts the ground and offers a major revaluation of Empson's place in the theoretical tradition.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Empson as literary theorist: from ambiguity to complex words and beyondÃé Christopher Norris

Empsonian honesty and the beginnings of individualism

Empson, Leavis, and the challenge of Milton

Empson's Satan: an ambiguous character of the seventh type

Compacted doctrines: Empson and the meanings of words

Figural narrative and plot construction: Empson on pastoral

More lurid figures: de Man reading Empson

'Fool' and 'pharmakon'

William Empson's cosmicomiques

Empson as teacher: the Sheffield years

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.