The first volume in the new series Companions to Contemporary German Culture, this book provides a systematic analysis of the full corpus of the literary theory and criticism of Wolgang Iser (1926-200
Writing for students of philosophy, literary and critical theory, anthropology, and cultural history, Iser (comparative literature, U. of Konstanz, Germany and English, U. of California, Irvine) eluc
"Iser is an influential figure, and aficionados will welcome the comprehensive exposition he provides here." -- Terence Cave, TLSThe pioneer of "literary anthropology," Wolfgang Iser presents a wide-
There is a tacit assumption that interpretation comes naturally, that human beings live by constantly interpreting. In this sense, we might even rephrase Descartes by saying: We interpret, therefore w
"An important transitional book, usefully summarizing the past and thoughtfully mapping out the future of a significant critic's theoretical project."- Modern Philology."There is a much greater emphas
Wolfgang Iser's study of Walter Pater (1839–94) was first published in German in 1960. It places the English critic, essayist and novelist in a philosophical tradition whose major exponents were Hegel and Coleridge, at the same time showing how Pater differed crucially from these thinkers to become representative of a late Victorian culture critically poised in transition between Romanticism and Modernism. Pater's new definitions of 'beauty' and 'style' in art, his doctrine of 'art for art's sake', his preoccupation with aesthetic existence, his fascination with periods of balance and historical transition are seen in the light of his scepticism towards all systematisation and his view of art as countering human finiteness by capturing the intensity of the moment. This important book, which remains as illuminating now as when it first appeared, will interest those interested in philosophy and aesthetics and Pater specialists alike.
This volume brings together fifteen outstanding literary theorists and philosophers to examine ways to make the unsayable—that which has been excluded by what is sayable—tangible.
Examining five major history plays by Shakespeare, Iser (English; U. of Konstanz, Germany, and U. of California, Irvine) investigates how plays so thoroughly embedded in the politics of their own peri
These essays—which consider a wide variety of cultures from ancient Egypt to contemporary Japan— describe the conditions under which cultures that do not dominate each other may yet achieve a limited
This volume treats conceptions of the fin-de-sièle as they were affected and characterized by the work of Walter Pater, the leading nineteenth-century English art critic after Ruskin, essayist and novelist, and major influence on the temper and style of the 'aesthetic' and 'decadent' movements. Many subjects are explored: Denis Donoghue recreates the sceptical spirit of Pater for our time and Wolfgang Iser with the 'translatability' of Paterian discourse in the current context of interpretation theory. On the larger European scene David Carrier treats the decisive role of Baudelaire in the movement towards Modernism in writing and painting, and the subterranean forms in which he was imported. The first publication of an important work, believed lost, of Pater's major disciple, the twentieth-century art critic Adrian Stokes, is also featured in this volume. Some translation is included, and finally,The Modern Elegy from Hardy to Heaney, displays the changing forms of the traditional ele
With contributions by David Bleich, Jonathan Culler, Stanley Fish, Walker Gibson, Norman N. Holland, Wolfgang Iser, Walter Benn Michaels, Georges Poulet, Gerald Prince, and Michael Riffaterre.
