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 | | Annoying the Victorians by James Kincaid ISBN-10: 9780415907286 ISBN-10: 0-415-90728-4 ISBN-13: 9780415907286 ISBN-13: 978-0-415-90728-6 Hardcover 1994-12-30 Routledge Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description What happens when bad criticism happens to good people? Annoying the Victorians sets the tradition of critical discourse and literary criticism on its ear, as well as a few other areas. James Kincaid brings his witty, erudite and thoroughly cynical self to the Victorians, and they will never read (or be read) quite the same. In a series of essays covering the "hit parade" of the Victorians--Tennyson, Dickens, Meredith, Hardy and the erotic poetry of The Pearl--Kincaid creates a sharp, insicive parody of the methods of good criticism (and sometimes the practicioners,) all the while raising questions about what "good criticism" is, and how these rules serve to maintain the status quo. Annoying the Victorians mocks those conventions held dear, and examines the sacredness of "the text," the employment of evidence, the construction of sound arguments, and the solemn tone in which the discipline is practiced, showing them all for smoke and mirrors, exposing the Wizard behind the curtain of critical practice. Throughout, James Kincaid amuses, prods, provokes and enlightens the reader with a machete-like directness couched in satire. The essays will surely annoy both Victorians and Victorianists alike, as well as those worshipping at the church of Literary Criticism. | ||
Reviews | ||
Vindicated! Finally, a book that explains why I didn't go to grad school to "study" literature. This entertaining book pokes fun at the academic system's "publish or perish" rule, whereby faculty are expected to write something, anything, no matter how ridiculous, to prove they are studious. Some, perhaps many (certainly too many) scholars do just that. As an undergraduate I suspected that the instructors in my literature courses weren't very bright, but after reading this book I now realize that you actually have to be a genius to make it look like you have carefully analyzed a work of classic fiction or poetry and discovered something new and insightful to say about it. The tone of this book is so farcical that when you come upon a typographical error you wonder if it's really a typo or if the author intended the text to be printed that way for laughs. Did he really teach a course at U.S.C. called "Criminals, Lunatics and Perverts"? But this book also contains some serious gems. One of my favorites is "Conservative and cozy manners don't seem to ask for much: so long as everyone runs the middle course, which is the normal way after all, no one is going to have breath enough to ask who laid out the course, why everyone is running, or why it might not be more fun to abandon the track and take off through the woods." (p. 208-209) My advice to anyone who feels tempted to pursue an academic career in literature is to read "Annoying the Victorians" instead. | ||
Way smart and WAY funny Why isn't this book a huge best-seller? Probably just because it's too amazing. It's both a terrifically smart piece of literary criticism, AND a laugh-out-loud, snort-your-orange-juice-out-your-nose funny FUNNY book. Do you like P. G. Wodehouse? Or Terry Pratchett? Or . . . ? Even if you aren't a literary critic, you'll be amazed by this book. | ||