Imperfection and Defeat
The Role of Aesthetic Imagination in Human Society
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Virgil Nemoianu, Catholic University of America,
Washington D.C.
Literature is defined in a challenging way as the "science"
of imperfection and defeat, or else as a type of discourse
that deals with defeat, loss, uncertainty in social
life, by contrast with virtually all disciplines (hard
sciences or social sciences) that affirm certainties
and wish to convince us of truths. If in real history
most constructive attempts end up in failure, it follows
that we ought to have also a field of research that
examines this diversity of failures and disappointments,
as well as the alternative options to historical evolution
and progress. Thus literature serves an indispensable
role: that of gleaning the abundance of past existence,
the gratuitous and the rejected being placed here on
an equal level with the useful and the successful.
This provocative and unusual approach is illustrated
in chapters that deal with the dialectics between literary
writing and such fields as historical writing, or religious
discourses, and is also illustrated by the socio-historical
development of East-Central Europe.
Contents
Introduction; Chapter One A Philosophical
Foundation; Chapter Two: The Dialectic of Literature
and Religion; Chapter Three The Dialectic of
Literature and History; Bibliography; Chapter Four
East/Central Europe as a Confirmatory Case Study; Bibliography;
Chapter Five Literature as Allegory of Human
Persecution and Survival; Index
"Offers a plethora of examples drawn from Eastern
and Western writers and critics in
illustrating and backing up his conclusions, never losing
sight of his main thesis. Summing up: Recommended."
- Choice
"This volume may best be best described as a philosophy
of history. Virgil Nemoianu derives the title of his
book from Paul Claudel's conviction that imperfect human
nature is designed not to obtain victory but to ward
off defeat. Nemoianu makes a distinction between what
is commonly thought of as literature and then discusses
the relationship between the two creative forms."
- Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly
2006
150 pages
ISBN 978-963-7326-57-8 cloth $34.95 /
€ 26.95 / £23.99
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