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Informationen zum Autor Richard Bradford is Research Professor of English at the University of Ulster. He is the author of two dozen books, including specialised academic monographs and six literary biographies including Literary Rivals, (2014), The Novel Now (2007) and First Boredom, Then Fear: The Life of Philip Larkin (2006) Klappentext Is Shakespeare any Good? reveals why certain literary works and authors are treated as superior to others, and questions the literary establishment's criteria for creating an imperium of "great" writers.* Enables readers to articulate and formulate their own arguments about the quality of literature - including works that convention forbids us to dislike* Dismantles the claims of academic criticism - particularly Theory - to tell us anything useful about why we like or appreciate literature* Challenges and shatters many longstanding beliefs about literature and its evaluation* Poses serious questions about the value of literature, and studying literature, and presents these in a lively and entertainingly provocative manner Zusammenfassung Is Shakespeare any Good? reveals why certain literary works and authors are treated as superior to others, and questions the literary establishment's criteria for creating an imperium of "great" writers.* Enables readers to articulate and formulate their own arguments about the quality of literature - including works that convention forbids us to dislike* Dismantles the claims of academic criticism - particularly Theory - to tell us anything useful about why we like or appreciate literature* Challenges and shatters many longstanding beliefs about literature and its evaluation* Poses serious questions about the value of literature, and studying literature, and presents these in a lively and entertainingly provocative manner Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgments ixIntroduction 11 A Brief Essay on Taste 52 The Dreadful Legacy of Modernism 443 Is Shakespeare Any Good? 904 Mad Theories 1315 Defining Literature: The Bête Noir of Academia 1666 Evaluation 1937 Popular Literature 2438 Is Literature Any Good For Us? 272References 321Index 326...
List of contents
Acknowledgments ixIntroduction 11 A Brief Essay on Taste 52 The Dreadful Legacy of Modernism 443 Is Shakespeare Any Good? 904 Mad Theories 1315 Defining Literature: The Bête Noir of Academia 1666 Evaluation 1937 Popular Literature 2438 Is Literature Any Good For Us? 272References 321Index 326
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'Richard Bradford has produced a pugnacious and carefully constructed critique of modern attitudes to the vexed question of how we should set about evaluating literary texts. Its insistence on the desirability of that much maligned abstract 'taste' is thoroughly to be applauded.'--D. J. Taylor, Author of Orwell: The Life, winner of the Whitbread Biography Prize.
