тАШFacts alone are wanted in life,тАЩ exclaims Mr Gradgrind at the beginning of DickensтАЩ Hard Times. Literature is not about facts alone, and тАУ despite two and a half thousand years of arguments тАУ no one can agree on what it is, or how to study it. But, argues Robert Eaglestone, it is precisely the open-ended nature of literature that makes it such a rewarding and useful subject. Eaglestone shows that studying literature can change who you are, turning you from a тАШreaderтАЩ into a тАШcriticтАЩ: someone attuned to the ways we make meaning in our world. Literature is a living conversation which provides endless opportunities to rethink and reinterpret our societies and ourselves. With examples ranging from Sappho to Skyrim, this book shows how literature offers freer and deeper ways of thinking and being.
тАШFacts alone are wanted in life,тАЩ exclaims Mr Gradgrind at the beginning of DickensтАЩ Hard Times. Literature is not about facts alone, and тАУ despite two and a half thousand years of arguments тАУ no one can agree on what it is, or how to study it. But, argues Robert Eaglestone, it is precisely the o...