Theory of Literature and Other Critical Writings
Columbia University Press · Paperback · July 15, 2010
Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) was the foremost Japanese novelist of the twentieth century, known for such highly acclaimed works as Kokoro, Sanshiro, and I Am a Cat.
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- Who it’s for
- An early theory of reading examines literary experience across time, cultures, and social conditions.
- Genres
- Japanese Literary Criticism, Literary Theory, 20th-Century Literary Criticism
- Published
- Columbia University Press, July 15, 2010
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) was the foremost Japanese novelist of the twentieth century, known for such highly acclaimed works as Kokoro, Sanshiro, and I Am a Cat. Yet he began his career as a literary theorist and scholar of English literature. In 1907, he published Theory of Literature, a remarkably forward-thinking attempt to understand how and why we read.
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The text anticipates by decades the ideas and concepts of formalism, structuralism, reader-response theory, and postcolonialism, as well as cognitive approaches to literature that are only now gaining traction. Employing the cutting-edge approaches of contemporary psychology and sociology, Soseki created a model for studying the conscious experience of reading literature as well as a theory for how the process changes over time and across cultures. Along with Theory of Literature, this volume reproduces a later series of lectures and essays in which Soseki continued to develop his theories. By insisting that literary taste is socially and historically determined, Soseki was able to challenge the superiority of the Western canon, and by grounding his theory in scientific knowledge, he was able to claim a universal validity.
The Act of Reading
An early theory of reading examines literary experience across time, cultures, and social conditions.
Come here for
- A model of conscious literary reading
- Lectures and essays extending the theory
Expect
- Connections between reading, psychology, and sociology
- An argument that literary taste is socially and historically shaped
Where it sits
| Japanese Literary Criticism | 92% |
|---|---|
| Literary Theory | 41% |
| 20th-Century Literary Criticism | 32% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Japanese Literary Collections
- Japanese Literary Criticism
- Authors
- Sōseki Natsume, Michael Bourdaghs, Atsuko Ueda
- Publisher
- Columbia University Press
- Published
- July 15, 2010
- Format
- Paperback
- Reading lane
- Japanese Literary Collections