A Companion to Literary Evaluation

A COMPANION TO LITERARY EVALUATION The first critical survey devoted solely to literary evaluation When we read a novel, watch a play, or hear lyric poetry in performance, we intuitively make a private assessment of its artistic qualities. Yet it is commonly assumed within academia that literature cannot be defined. Consequently, the question of "is it any good" is hardly ever addressed in the world of literary studies. Bridging the gap between the non-academic literary world and the university, A Companion to Literary Evaluation helps readers balance instinctive judgment and reasoned assessment to articulate how or why a particular author, playwright, or poet inhabits an exalted position while others do not. A diverse panel of contributors explores key issues from various perspectives, including analytical aesthetics, the philosophy of literature, opinionated bias, and common sense. It covers topics from lyric poetry, newspaper reviewing, literary translation, and the question of Shakespeare's genius, to the simple notion of how a life of reading books alters our sense of what is good and what is not. Throughout the book, easily accessible chapters emphasize the importance of maintaining clarity of values in the evaluation of literary works, illustrate how seemingly divergent perspectives sometimes overlap, discuss the impact of Modernism, the teaching of evaluation in schools, relativism versus subjectivism in assessing literary value, and more. Incorporating methodologies that demonstrate why literature can be treated as something different from other forms of language, A Companion to Literary Evaluation is a must-read for undergraduates, research students, lecturers, and academics in search of fresh perspectives on standard literary critical issues.