The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent

Selected Essays of Lionel Trilling

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, American
Cover of the book The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent by Lionel Trilling, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Lionel Trilling ISBN: 9781466832145
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication: October 17, 2001
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Language: English
Author: Lionel Trilling
ISBN: 9781466832145
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication: October 17, 2001
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Language: English

A landmark reissue of a great teacher's finest work

Lionel Trilling was, during his lifetime, generally acknowledged to be one of the finest essayists in the English language, the heir of Hazlitt and the peer of Orwell. Since his death in 1974, his work has been discussed and hotly debated, yet today, when writers and critics claim to be "for" or "against" his interpretations, they can hardly be well acquainted with them, for his work has been largely out of print for years.

With this re-publication of Trilling's finest essays, Leon Wieseltier offers readers of many new generations a rich overview of Trilling's achievement. The essays collected here include justly celebrated masterpieces--on Mansfield Park and on "Why We Read Jane Austen"; on Twain, Dos Passos, Hemingway, Isaac Babel; on Keats, Wordsworth, Eliot, Frost; on "Art and Neurosis"; and the famous Preface to Trilling's book The Liberal Imagination.

This exhilarating work has much to teach readers who may have been encouraged to adopt simpler systems of meaning, or were taught to exchange the ideals of reason and individuality for those of enthusiasm and the false romance of group identity. Trilling's remarkable essays show a critic who was philosophically motivated and textually responsible, alive to history but not in thrall to it, exercised by art but not worshipful of it, consecrated to ideas but suspicious of theory.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A landmark reissue of a great teacher's finest work

Lionel Trilling was, during his lifetime, generally acknowledged to be one of the finest essayists in the English language, the heir of Hazlitt and the peer of Orwell. Since his death in 1974, his work has been discussed and hotly debated, yet today, when writers and critics claim to be "for" or "against" his interpretations, they can hardly be well acquainted with them, for his work has been largely out of print for years.

With this re-publication of Trilling's finest essays, Leon Wieseltier offers readers of many new generations a rich overview of Trilling's achievement. The essays collected here include justly celebrated masterpieces--on Mansfield Park and on "Why We Read Jane Austen"; on Twain, Dos Passos, Hemingway, Isaac Babel; on Keats, Wordsworth, Eliot, Frost; on "Art and Neurosis"; and the famous Preface to Trilling's book The Liberal Imagination.

This exhilarating work has much to teach readers who may have been encouraged to adopt simpler systems of meaning, or were taught to exchange the ideals of reason and individuality for those of enthusiasm and the false romance of group identity. Trilling's remarkable essays show a critic who was philosophically motivated and textually responsible, alive to history but not in thrall to it, exercised by art but not worshipful of it, consecrated to ideas but suspicious of theory.

More books from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Cover of the book Fat Pig by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book The Curse by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book The Best of All Possible Worlds by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book The Ruling Caste by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book Irrepressible by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book The Eagle's Shadow by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book New Poems by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book Blood and Belonging by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book Rain by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book Give Me Everything You Have by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book The Broken Shore by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book Ninety-Two in the Shade by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book The Runaway Dragon by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book Blood of the Liberals by Lionel Trilling
Cover of the book God's Grace by Lionel Trilling
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy