Synopses & Reviews
Review
The subtitle ... modestly describes the tensions that generate the remarkable energy of this highly original study. The old conception of classic, Kermode argues, is tied to Virgilian attitudes of empire and eternity; the modern use of the term embraces change, plurality and secularization. The Classic brilliantly mediates between the two views of literature and culture . . . This closely argued and clearly articulated essay . .rests on formidable learning. The New Republic
Review
Kermode is one of the rare critics and scholars it is in any case uncommon to he both who offer a new and unusual insight on whatever author or topic they turn to. New Statesman
Review
Taking as his central concept 'the classic,' the literary work we speak of as enduring, Kermode asks how a text can retain its identity as its time-hound readers change . . . The Classic is an enormously suggestive book . elegant and accessible. Yale Review
Review
Kermodehas one of the finest minds in contemporary criticism, and there is nothing that he touches that he does not in some unexpected way to use some of his own termstranslate, renovate, eternalize. Commonweals
Synopsis
Kermode attempts to determine the criteria for classical literature through an analysis of the social and intellectual importance of great works of the past.
About the Author
Frank Kermode is Julian Clarence Levi Professor of English Literature, Columbia University, and a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.
Table of Contents
1.
tantum alias inter caput extulit urbes, quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi 2.
urbem, quam dicunt Romam...putavi......huic nostrae similem...
3.
magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo 4.
atgue hic ingentem comitum adfluxisse novorum invenio admirans numerum...