Name: Common Reading By Stefan Collini (Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature, University of Cambridge)
SKU: 9780199569793
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Common Reading Summary

Common Reading: Critics, Historians, Publics by Stefan Collini (Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature, University of Cambridge)

In this series of penetrating and attractively readable essays, Stefan Collini explores aspects of the literary and intellectual culture of Britain from the early twentieth century to the present. Collini focuses on critics and historians who wrote for a non-specialist readership, and on the periodicals and other genres through which they attempted to reach that readership. Among the critics discussed are Cyril Connolly, V.S. Pritchett, Aldous Huxley, Rebecca West, Edmund Wilson, and George Orwell, while the historians include A.L. Rowse, Arthur Bryant, E.H. Carr, and E.P. Thompson. There are also essays on wider themes such as the fate of 'general' periodicals, the history of reading, the role of criticism, changing conceptions of 'culture', the limitations of biography, and the functions of universities. Explicitly addressed to 'the non-specialist reader', these essays make some of the fruits of detailed scholarly research in various fields available to a wider audience in a succinct and elegant manner. Stefan Collini has been acclaimed as one of the most brilliant essayists of our time, and this collection shows him at his subtle, perceptive, and trenchant best. The book will appeal to (and delight) readers interested in literature, history, and contemporary cultural debate.

Common Reading Reviews

Collini is the reviewer par excellence of our age. * David Stack, English Historical Review. *
These chapters are erudite, beautifully written, and impressive in their historical breadth. * English *
Collini...writes with lively wit and insight. Penetrating, down-to-earth, often hilarious, these essays are perfect brain food * Christopher Hirst, The Independent *
The chapters are erudite, beautifully written, and impressive in their historical breadth... this book... represents clear proof that had he written nothing else, Collini would still be one of the few academics reviewing today whose work deserves reprinting in collected form. * Mary Hammond, English *
Books do furnish a mind, and in a form that bailiffs cannot repossess. Collini is that rare bird, a don who can be read with pleasure by the non-specialist reader, to whom this book is addressed. * Michael Barber, Books of the Year, The Tablet *

About Stefan Collini (Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature, University of Cambridge)

Stefan Collini is Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Clare Hall. A frequent contributor to The Times Literary Supplement, The London Review of Books, and other periodicals both in Britain and the USA, his previous books include Public Moralists (1991), Matthew Arnold: a Critical Portrait (1994, reissued 2007), English Pasts (1999), and Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain (2006), all also published by Oxford University Press. He is a Fellow of both the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society.

PART ONE: WRITING LIVES ; 1. On not getting on with it: the criticism of Cyril Connolly ; 2. Rolling it out: V. S. Pritchett's writing life ; 3. The Great Seer: Aldous Huxley's visions ; 4. Performance: the critical authority of Rebecca West ; 5. Man of letters as hero: the energy of Edmund Wilson ; 6. Plain speaking: the lives of George Orwell ; 7. Believing in oneself: the career of Stephen Spender ; 8. Smacking: the letters of William Empson ; 9. Disappointment: A. L. Rowse in his diaries ; 10. Believing in England: Arthur Bryant, historian as man of letters ; 11. Believing in history: Herbert Butterfield, Christian and Whig ; 12. The intellectual as realist: the puzzling career of E. H. Carr ; 13. Enduring passion: E. H. Thompson's reputation ; 14. Olympian universalism: Perry Anderson as essayist ; 15. Hegel in green wellies: Roger Scruton's England ; PART TWO: READING MATTERS ; 16. 'The Great Age': the idealizing of Victorian culture ; 17. Always dying: the idea of the general periodical ; 18. Boomster and the Quack: the author as celebrity ; 19. Private reading: the autodidact public ; 20. The completest mode: the literary critic as hero ; 21. From deference to diversity: 'culture' in Britain 1945-2000 ; 22. Well connected: biography and intellectual elites ; 23. National lives: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ; 24. HiEdBiz: universities and their publics ; References ; Acknowledgements ; Index

Additional information

Sku

NLS9780199569793

ISBN 13

9780199569793

ISBN 10

0199569797

Title

Common Reading: Critics, Historians, Publics by Stefan Collini (Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature, University of Cambridge)

Author

Stefan Collini (Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature, University of Cambridge)

Condition

New

Binding type

Paperback

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Year published

2009-09-10

Number of pages

384

Prizes

N/A

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Note

This is a new book - be the first to read this copy. With untouched pages and a perfect binding, your brand new copy is ready to be opened for the first time

Common Reading Stefan Collini (Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature, University of Cambridge)

Common Reading by Stefan Collini (Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature, University of Cambridge)

Summary

Common Reading Summary

Common Reading: Critics, Historians, Publics by Stefan Collini (Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature, University of Cambridge)

Common Reading Reviews

About Stefan Collini (Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature, University of Cambridge)

Table of Contents

Additional information

Customer Reviews - Common Reading