Table Of ContentWhy Literature Matters
in the 21st Century
Why Literature Matters
in the 21st Century
Mark William Roche
Yale University Press
New Haven and London
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Roche, Mark W.
Why literature matters in the st century / Mark W. Roche.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN ---(cloth : alk. paper)
. Literature and morals. . Literature and technology. . Criticism.
. Canon (Literature). I. Title.
PN.R
(cid:2).—dc
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of theCommittee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources.
For Vittorio Hösle,
a genial philosopher
and even more genial friend
Contents
Acknowledgments, ix
Sources and Translations, xi
1 Introduction,
Part I Moral Principles of Literature and Literary Criticism
2 The Value of Literature,
3 The Value of Literary Criticism,
4 Contemporary Models,
Part II The Technological Age
5 Categories of the Technological Age,
6 Aesthetics in the Technological Age,
vii
viii TChoen tReenctosnstructed Polish Homeland
Part III Possibilities for Literature and Literary Criticism
in the Technological Age
7 The Value of Literature Today,
8 Technology, Ethics, and Literature,
9 The Literary Canon and the Literary Critic in the
Twenty-First Century,
Notes,
Works Cited,
Index,
Acknowledgments
For institutional assistance I am grateful to the University of Notre
Dame, which has generously supported my research with time and
funding. Few institutions hold so consistently to the idea of the
scholar-administrator that they grant leaves to deans. In particular, I
should like to thank President Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., and Provost
Nathan O. Hatch for granting me a partial leave in and. The
Humboldt Foundation generously funded my work with a research fel-
lowship during the first half of .
During my Humboldt stay at the University of Essen my host was
Vittorio Hösle, and I owe him thanks in at least two respects: first, as
an interlocutor he has helped me sharpen my thinking on many occa-
sions; second, his writings on metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and the
philosophy of technology have given me a richness of categories with
which to approach some of the problems I address in this work; the
substance, clarity, and range of Hösle’s writings, his critiques of im-
portant thinkers, such as Hegel and Heidegger, and his reformulations
of objective idealism and concrete suggestions for modernity have
earned him a distinguished place among contemporary philosophers.
ix
x TAhcken Roewcolendsgtrmucetnetds Polish Homeland
Long before I put pen to paper, I discussed some of these ideas with students
at the Ohio State University in two graduate seminars, the first, “Objective Ide-
alism and the Study of Literature,” in the spring of and the second, “Liter-
ature in the Age of Technology,” in the spring of . During my stay in Essen
I was able to present the ideas in a series of colloquia to faculty and students of
philosophy and literature. For comments and questions during these sessions,
which were arranged by Christian Illies and Dietrich Koch, I am grateful. Also,
Dirk Hohnsträter (Berlin) made helpful comments on that early draft. Similarly
rewarding was a discussion of chapter and part of chapter with the –
fellows of the Erasmus Institute of the University of Notre Dame, which was
arranged by William Donahue (Rutgers University) and Roger Lundin (Whea-
ton College). The comments of Gary Gutting (Notre Dame) and Rev. Robert
Sullivan (Notre Dame) were especially important for the further development
of my manuscript. Scholars from whom I have learned in discussing aspects of
technology include especially Alan Beyerchen (Ohio State) and John Hamp-
shire (Broad Reach Communications). I am also grateful to the two readers for
Yale University Press and to Otto Bohlmann and John Kulka of Yale University
Press. In addition, I would like to thank Nancy Moore of Yale University Press
for overseeing the production of the book and Linda Webster for preparing the
index.
Barbara Roche’s emphasis on ideas that might reach a broader readership has
been an inspiration, as has been her exceptional work as a gardener and an artist.
Duncan and Gabriel awakened in me a greater awareness of the spirituality of
nature than I would have thought possible. So, too, if in different ways, am I
grateful to Banquo, Bridget, Iona, Karma, Kizmet, Leoni, Lexicon, Macbeth,
and Wacondo.
