A Companion to Literary Evaluation

The first critical survey of its kind devoted solely to literary evaluationCompanion to Literary Evaluation bridges the gap between the non-academic literary world, where evaluation is deeply ingrained, and the world of academia, where evaluation is rarely considered. Encouraging readers to formulate and articulate arguments that balance instinctive judgment and reasoned assessment, this unique volume addresses key issues regarding literary values from the perspective of analytical aesthetics and the philosophy of literature.Bringing together a diverse panel of contributors, the Companion explores competing theories of literary evaluation, the reasons for evaluating theater and lyric poetry in performance, the question of value in literary theory, debates over Modernism's negative impact on literature, the possibility of evaluating aesthetic beauty through scientific and formalist methods, the nature and status of literary evaluation as a branch of criticism, aesthetics in applied and community theater, evaluation outside academia, the perils of extreme relativism and subjectivism in literary evaluation, evaluation in schools and much more. Contributors question and reassess the reputations of authors across the canon, from Shakespeare and James Shirley to T S Eliot, Kathleen Raine, Virginia Woolf, Joyce and Beckett amongst others. The Companion:* Illustrates how seemingly divergent perspectives on the artistic qualities and value of literature can sometimes overlap* Covers the standard range of literary genres, while including others such as unfinished novels, freelance journalism, and lyric poetry in performance* Offers methodologies that demonstrate why literature can be treated as something different from other forms of language and therefore assessed as art* Explores the importance of maintaining clarity and specificity in the evaluation of literary worksCompanion to Literary Evaluation is a must-read for undergraduates, research students, lecturers, and academics in search of fresh perspectives on standard literary critical issues.

Notes on Contributors viiIntroduction 1Richard Bradford1 Literary Values 8Peter Lamarque2 Complexity as a Criterion for the Evaluation of Literature 42Anja Müller-Wood3 Schooled Aesthetic Asymmetries: (Back)firing the Canon in Secondary Education 57D.J. Howells4 Defining Literature: The Route to Aesthetic Evaluation 76Paolo Euron5 Kathleen Raine: The Less Received 92Andrew Keanie6 "Is (This) Translation Any Good?": The Evaluation of Literary Translation 110Giuseppe Sofo7 The Algorithm of Beauty: Aesthetic Judgment as a Science 120Madelena Gonzalez8 Literary Value and the Question of Insight on Humanly Relevant Matters 135Emanuela Tegla9 How Books Get Reviewed: Evaluation and the Freelance Journalist 150D.J. Taylor10 A Lifetime of Evaluation 156Penelope Stenning11 Evaluating Unfinished Novels: Octavia E. Butler and the Improbability of Justice 166Rafe McGregor12 "How to Bring So Goode a Matter into a Better Forme": The Value of the Horse in Early Modern Writing 179Elisabetta Deriu13 Reading Performance for the Values Underpinning Production 195Amanda Finch14 Bridging the Gap between Page and Performance Poetry 212Karen Simecek15 Aesthetics and Efficacy in Applied and Community Theater 226Dónall Mac Cathmhaoill16 Antonin Artaud Beyond Judgment: A Radio Reading of "To Have Done With The Judgement of God" with Local Prisoners 243Gary Anderson and Niamh Malone17 "Chief of the Second Rate": James Shirley and Dramatic Value 259Heidi Craig18 "The Glories of our Blood and State" and The Lady of Pleasure: The Genius of [Counterfactual] Britain's National Writer--James Shirley 271Kevin De Ornellas19 Evaluating Literary Evaluation 287Peter Barry20 The Horrible Legacy of Modernism 299Richard Bradford21 Evaluating Poems 331Amy Burns and Richard BradfordIndex 346