A Companion to the Philosophy of Literature

This diverse collection of essays represents the most recent critical thinking concerning the philosophical study of literature. Contributed by an international team of eminent scholars drawn from the fields of both literature and philosophy, the great majority of essays are newly commissioned for this volume, supplemented by a few indispensable works of recent scholarship. All are rich in literary examples and analytical precision. For ease of course use, the essays are helpfully grouped within the major subdivisions of the field, among them “Relations Between Philosophy and Literature,” “Emotional Engagement and the Experience of Reading,” “Literature and the Moral Life,” and “Literary Language.” By bringing together such an extraordinary collection of influential and thought–provoking essays, A Companion to the Philosophy of Literature reveals the deep and expansive nature of philosophical and literary studies – and the inextricable bonds they share.

Notes on Contributors viii Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 Garry L. Hagberg and Walter Jost Part I Relations between Philosophy and Literature 5 1 Philosophy as Literature and More than Literature 7 Richard Shusterman 2 Philosophy and Literature: Friends of the Earth? 22 Roger A. Shiner 3 Philosophy and Literature – and Rhetoric: Adventures in Polytopia 38 Walter Jost 4 Philosophy and/as/of Literature 52 Arthur C. Danto Part II Emotional Engagement and the Experience of Reading 69 5 Emotion and the Understanding of Narrative 71 Jenefer Robinson 6 Feeling Fictions 93 Roger Scruton 7 The Experience of Reading 106 Peter Kivy 8 Self–Defining Reading: Literature and the Constitution of Personhood 120 Garry L. Hagberg Part III Philosophy, Tragedy, and Literary Form 159 9 Tragedy and Philosophy 161 Anthony J. Cascardi 10 Iago′s Elenchus: Shakespeare, Othello, and the Platonic Inheritance 174 M. W. Rowe 11 Catharsis 193 Jonathan Lear 12 Passion, Counter–Passion, Catharsis: Flaubert (and Beckett) on Feeling Nothing 218 Joshua Landy Part IV Literature and the Moral Life 239 13 Perceptive Equilibrium: Literary Theory and Ethical Theory 241 Martha C. Nussbaum 14 Henry James, Moral Philosophers, Moralism 268 Cora Diamond 15 Literature and the Idea of Morality 285 Eileen John 16 Styles of Self–Absorption 300 Daniel Brudney Part V Narrative and the Question of Literary Truth 329 17 Narration, Imitation, and Point of View 331 Gregory Currie 18 How and What We Can Learn from Fiction 350 Mitchell Green 19 Literature and Truth 367 Peter Lamarque 20 Truth in Poetry: Particulars and Universals 385 Richard Eldridge Part VI Intention and Biography in Criticism 399 21 Authorial Intention and the Varieties of Intentionalism 401 Paisley Livingston 22 Art as Techne, or, The Intentional Fallacy and the Unfinished Project of Formalism 420 Henry Staten 23 Biography in Literary Criticism 436 Stein Haugom Olsen 24 Getting Inside Heisenberg’s Head 453 Ray Monk Part VII On Literary Language 465 25 Wittgenstein and Literary Language 467 Jon Cook and Rupert Read 26 Exemplification and Expression 491 Charles Altieri 27 At Play in the Fields of Metaphor 507 Ted Cohen 28 Macbeth Appalled 521 Stanley Cavell Index 541

Garry L. Hagberg is the James H. Ottaway Professor of Philosophy and Aesthetics at Bard College, and has in recent years held a Chair in the School of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia and a visiting fellowship at Cambridge University. He has published widely in philosophical and literary contexts; his recent books include Art and Ethical Criticism (Blackwell, 2008) and Describing Ourselves: Wittgenstein and Autobiographical Consciousness (2008). He is joint editor of the journal Philosophy and Literature . Walter Jost is Professor of English at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Rhetorical Thought in John Henry Newman (1989) and Rhetorical Investigations (2004), and has edited or co–edited six previous books, including (with Wendy Olmsted) A Companion to Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism (Blackwell, 2004).

"Recommended. Library collections supporting upper–level undergraduates through faculty/researchers." (Choice, 1 March 2011) "It can be firmly recommended for the library of any university or college that has courses in either literature or philosophy". (Reference Reviews, 1 December 2010)