Precious Nonsense: The Gettysburg Address, Ben Jonson's Epitaphs on His Children, and Twelfth Night
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.70 (983 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0520212886 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 216 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-02-07 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A dazzling experiment in literary analysis Honesty requires a disclaimer. Booth is a friend and colleague. But I would react similarly if I didn't know the author. If there were six stars, I would award them to Precious Nonsense. Booth takes familiar texts that seem all too clear and obvious and makes us see a multitude of things going on beneath their surfaces. His discoveries are startling and sometimes you want to argue with him, b. "this is a terrific, extraordinarily original book" according to JDC. Yes, this is a terrific, extraordinarily original book. Booth does not pretend that everything in a work coheres and shows that much of their seductive power comes from bizarre verbal connections that must function subliminaly: why do we remember "Little boy Blue come blow your horn? Does the fact that the past tense of "blow" is "blew" have anything to do with it? too bad this is out of prin
Booth argues that the illogic, irrationality, and incongruity (or "nonsense") in literature, which the mind tends to elide into superficial understanding, are really the most meaningful cruxes of the text."--"Choice . "Booth highlights the linguistic complications, illogical assertions, and incongruous imagery that distinguish, but enrich, disparate texts: the Gettysburg Address, poetic epitaphs by Ben Jonson on his children, and Shapespeare's "Twelfth Night
Among his many publications on Shakespeare is Shakespeare's Sonnets, Edited with Analytic Commentary (1979).. Stephen Booth is Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley
But what is it about that experience that makes us treasure certain writings above others? Stephen Booth suggests that the greatest appeal of our most valued works may be that they are, in one way or another, nonsensical. Precious Nonsense is certain to bring pleasure to anyone interested in language and its beguiling possibilities.. He uses three disparate texts—the Gettysburg Address, Ben Jonson's epitaphs on his children, and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night—to demonstrate how poetics triumphs over logic in the invigorating mental activity that enriches our experience of reading. Ultimately, Booth argues, literature gives us the capacity to cope effortlessly with, and even to transcend, the complicated and demanding mental experiences it generates for us.This book is in part a witty critique of the trends—old