Adventures in Criticism

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, 1863-1944Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 463K words
Chapters: 47

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Adventures in Criticism by Arthur Quiller-CouchAuthor: Quiller-Couch, Arthur, 1863-1944,Language: English, Class: PN: Language and Literatures: Literature: General, Criticism, Collections, Release Date: Jan 3, 2006

Editor's review

Arthur Quiller-Couch was a poet, novelist and Cambridge professor of literature, and this book embodies his tastes and methods as a critic. The word "adventures" in the title sets the tone: criticism is not a cold trial but an exploration driven by curiosity and personal judgment. The essays range widely, and the prose is polished yet witty, offering both close readings of specific works and reflections on criticism itself, letting readers see how a critic with creative experience talks about texts. For those who want to understand the style of early twentieth-century English criticism and learn how to write reviews and appreciative essays, this book offers models to imitate. Note that many of the writers and works discussed are unfamiliar to today's general readers; there is no need to master all the background—just follow the arguments and enjoy the language. Suitable as a supplementary primer in literary criticism, and for browsing individual essays.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in critical method and review writing
Literature lovers curious about early twentieth-century English criticism
Readers with good English who enjoy essayistic reviews
Literature students, as a supplement to courses on criticism and appreciation

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a systematic theory textbook or a survey of contemporary critical schools
Those with weak English or little familiarity with nineteenth- and twentieth-century English literature
Readers who want only light stories and avoid commentary and argument

Reading tips

No need to read straight through; start with essays on writers or works you know.
Before each essay, read the title and opening paragraph to identify the subject, then decide whether to read closely or skim.
Keep a pen handy to mark the evidence the author uses to judge a text, and learn his argumentative method.
After a few essays, try writing a short review imitating his tone and structure to test what you have absorbed.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a systematic work of literary theory?

No. It is closer to a collection of essayistic criticism, in which the author discusses specific works and critical ideas through personal reading experience. The prose is polished and the judgments are sharp, but it does not aim to build a complete theoretical system. It suits readers who want to feel the style of traditional English criticism and learn appreciation and review writing.

How should I read the unfamiliar writers?

Focus on the author's argument and the pleasures of his language rather than trying to fill in all the background first. When you meet an unfamiliar work, see how the author describes its features and reaches his judgment, then decide whether to look further. The book works better as a sample of critical writing than as a literary history.

Is this book suitable for learning to write reviews?

Fairly suitable. The author has creative experience, and his criticism often starts from textual detail, with a personal tone that remains measured. Readers can observe how he introduces a judgment, how he supports it with examples, and how he closes a short essay. Reading one or two essays closely and imitating their structure is more directly useful than reading the whole book.

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About the author

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, 1863-1944 Author

Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863–1944) was an English writer with a substantial body of work, of which 41 titles are held in this collection. His writing covers a wide range: essays on the craft of reading and writing such as On the Art of Reading and On the Art of Writing, and narrative works set against the sea, winter, and the fireside, including The Roll-Call of the Reef, I Saw Three Ships and Other Winter Tales, Two Sides of the Face: Midwinter Tales, and The Laird's Luck and Other Fireside Tales. He also retold fairy tales from the Old French in The Sleeping Beauty and other fairy tales from the Old French, and wrote From a Cornish Window, a book that reflects his attention to the Cornish landscape and local life. Public information is limited and biographical details are hard to verify, but the surviving works show a graceful, unhurried prose that combines the reflective habits of an essayist with a storyteller's pleasure in narrative, leaving its mark on English prose and short fiction.