| Heresies and Heretics: Memories of the Twentieth Century Contributor(s): Watson, George (Author) |
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ISBN: 0718892925 ISBN-13: 9780718892920 Publisher: Lutterworth Press OUR PRICE: $32.30 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2013 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Philosophy - Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh - Biography & Autobiography | Literary Figures |
| Dewey: 273.909 |
| LCCN: 2013455247 |
| Physical Information: 0.6" H x 6.1" W x 9.1" (0.70 lbs) 200 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - British Isles |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In this enjoyably iconoclastic book, George Watson discusses some of the great heresies of the twentieth century, and the cultural heretics who espoused them, often with surprising results. Watson provides us with examples of 'true', original heretics, many of whom he has met and taught: from Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, who asserted that his study of the remote past had made a radical of him, rather than any influence of modernism, to Douglas Adams, whom Watson knew as an undergraduate. Watson forces us toquestion various long-cherished political and intellectual assumptions in his witty and conversational style. Is snobbery really such a bad thing? Have we ignored the links between socialism and genocide? He touches entertainingly upon subjects as diverse as literary theory (experimental fiction is often the last resort of those who have nothing to say), and the unoriginal conformism of teenage Marxists (incapable of actually reading Marx, as he is too boring). This is a work which will delight any reader seeking a uniquely personal perspective on the culture, history, and personalities of the twentieth century. |
Contributor Bio(s): Watson, George: - George Watson is Fellow in English at St. John's College, Cambridge. He has published a number of books on literature and political thought, including 'The Literary Critics', its sequel, 'Never Ones for Theory?', 'The English Ideology', 'Lost Literature of Socialism' and 'Take Back the Past', also published by The Lutterworth Press. He has been Sandars Reader in Bibliography, and is editor of the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. |