Living in Language : The Literary Word at Work in the World

David Bosworth

ISBN 10: 1666774502 / ISBN 13: 9781666774504

Published by Wipf & Stock Publishers Sep 2024, 2024

About this Item

Neuware - In Living in Language, David Bosworth makes a compelling case for the power and relevance of the literary imagination throughout history. In a series of essays both lyrical and analytical, he examines how certain works have engaged the most pressing problems of their authors' ages even as they illuminate challenges that still haunt the world. The topics addressed are rich and various: the evolutionary significance of metaphorical reasoning; how Hitler's infatuation with an opera's plot predicted the arc of his horrific reign, even as his victims employed the power of narrative to endure his crimes; the ways in which Melville's late fiction foresaw the sources driving America's current cultural crisis; and how, in probing his era's political turmoil, Shakespeare's plays supply clues to resolving the current era's. From the spiritual quest of a musical prose to the cinematic craft of amending America's foundational story; from the myth of the Fall to novels that probe the Internet's impact on our lives today, Bosworth reveals how the literary imagination honors the 'living' prescribed by the human predicament, evoking its beauty while never stinting on its uncertainties, cruelties, and pain.

Seller Inventory # 9781666774504

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Living in Language : The Literary Word at Work in the World
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Publishers Sep 2024
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1666774502
• ISBN 13: 9781666774504
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 229W x 152H x 16D millimeters 229 millimeters width by 152 millimeters height by 16 millimeters depth
• Weight: 481 grams

About this title

Synopsis

In Living in Language, David Bosworth makes a compelling case for the power and relevance of the literary imagination throughout history. In a series of essays both lyrical and analytical, he examines how certain works have engaged the most pressing problems of their authors' ages even as they illuminate challenges that still haunt the world. The topics addressed are rich and various: the evolutionary significance of metaphorical reasoning; how Hitler's infatuation with an opera's plot predicted the arc of his horrific reign, even as his victims employed the power of narrative to endure his crimes; the ways in which Melville's late fiction foresaw the sources driving America's current cultural crisis; and how, in probing his era's political turmoil, Shakespeare's plays supply clues to resolving the current era's. From the spiritual quest of a musical prose to the cinematic craft of amending America's foundational story; from the myth of the Fall to novels that probe the Internet's impact on our lives today, Bosworth reveals how the literary imagination honors the "living" prescribed by the human predicament, evoking its beauty while never stinting on its uncertainties, cruelties, and pain.

About the Author

A recipient of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize and the Editors' Book Award, David Bosworth is the author of two books of fiction and numerous essays on cultural and ethical change in America. He teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Check out my interview with Boisi Center!