Ethics Literature and Theory: An Introductory Reader

About this book

Ethics Literature and Theory: An Introductory Reader brings together the work of contemporary scholars teachers and writers into lively discussion on the moral role of literature and the relationship between aesthetics art and ethics. Do the rich descriptions and narrative shapings of literature provide a valuable resource for readers writers philosophers and everyday people to imagine and confront the ultimate questions of life? Do the human activities of storytelling and complex moral decision-making have a deep connection? What are the moral responsibilities of the artist critic and reader? What can religious perspectivesfrom Catholic to Protestant to Mormoncontribute to literary criticism? What do we mean when we talk about ethical criticism and how does this differ from the common notion of censorship? Thirty well known contributors reflect on these questions including: literary theorists Marshall Gregory James Phelan and Wayne Booth; philosophers Martha Nussbaum Richard Hart and Nina Rosenstand; and authors John Updike Charles Johnson Flannery OConnor and Bernard Malamud. Divided into four sections with introductory matter and questions for discussion this accessible anthology represents the most crucial work today exploring the interdisciplinary connections among literature religion and philosophy.