THE PURITAN AND THE CYNIC by Jefferson Humphries ( 9780195041804 )

Item Details

Title:

THE PURITAN AND THE CYNIC
MORALISTS AND THEORISTS IN FRENCH AND AMERICAN LETTERS

By:

Jefferson Humphries

Format:

Hardback

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£32.99

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£28.87

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ISBN 10:

0195041801

ISBN 13:

9780195041804

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Publisher:

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS INC

Pub. date:

1 January, 1987

Pages:

126

Description:

This book offers a comparative reading of the ways in which moral issues surface in French and American literature.

Synopsis:

Why do Americans, and so often, American writers, profess moral sentiments and yet write so little in the traditionally "moralistic" genres of maxim and fable? What is the relation between "moral" concerns and literary theory? Can any sort of morality survive the supposed nihilism of deconstruction? Jefferson Humphries undertakes a discussion of questions like these through a comparative reading of the ways in which moral issues surface in French and American literature. Humphries takes issue with the "amoral" view of deconstruction espoused by many of its detractors, arguing that the debate between the theory's advocates and opponents comes down to two opposing literary and moral traditions. While the American tradition views morality as a rigid system capable of being enforced by injunctions along the lines of "Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not," the French tradition conceives of morality as a function of a relentless and unsentimental pursuit of truth, and finally, an admission that "truth" is not a static thing, but rather an ongoing process of rigorous thought.

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Imprint:

Oxford University Press Inc

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Returnable

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