"There are as many different kinds of good book as there are different kinds of good writer. Each has something to give us. We should admire each in so far as he strikes us as good in his particular kind." In order properly to appreciate good writing we need to cultivate a point of view from which a work's aesthetic qualities occupy our centre vision. This happens naturally with other art forms such as music, where the appeal is purely aesthetic. With literature, we can benefit from instruction in how to read. Such ...
Read More
"There are as many different kinds of good book as there are different kinds of good writer. Each has something to give us. We should admire each in so far as he strikes us as good in his particular kind." In order properly to appreciate good writing we need to cultivate a point of view from which a work's aesthetic qualities occupy our centre vision. This happens naturally with other art forms such as music, where the appeal is purely aesthetic. With literature, we can benefit from instruction in how to read. Such instruction has rarely been delivered more elegantly than in The Fine Art of Reading, which was David Cecil's inaugural lecture as Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature at Oxford in 1949. The work combines the author's hallmark attention to detail with accessibility to a general audience. Cecil describes how we all might develop a "faculty of appreciation" - by approaching a piece of literature in an appropriate way; by learning to understand the language in which the work is written; and by broadening our aesthetic sympathies and expanding our taste. Cecil assesses the relative merits of great authors and poets such as Milton, Gray and Shelley, while stressing that the only important distinction is between good and bad art. Proper reading is an art in itself and in this fine essay David Cecil shows himself to be the consummate artist and instructor.
Read Less
Add this copy of The Fine Art of Reading to cart. $13.90, good condition, Sold by Becker's Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Houston, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1957 by Bobbs-Merrill.
Add this copy of The Fine Art of Reading to cart. $24.64, very good condition, Sold by Reuseabook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gloucester, GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2001 by Souvenir Press Ltd.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine.
Add this copy of The Fine Art of Reading to cart. $51.53, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Souvenir Press Ltd.
The title is apt but the book is much more than some tome of how to read. It is a brilliant examination of the mind and work of seven great writers (Shakespeare, John Ford, Austen, Conrad, Walter de la Mare, Hazlitt, and Walter Pater) plus an opening chapter on the fine art of reading, another piece on the forms of fiction, and another piece on women writers.
A great piece by Anatole Broyard in the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, "The Price of Reading is Eternal Vigilance," should be tucked into its pages.
Do not think for a moment that its copyright of 1957 dates it or that the writers Lord Cecil deals with are not all worthy of our consideration.
Not only are Lord Cecil's analyses perspicacious but his writing itself is a wonder. Especially noteworth are the last sentences of his paragraphs--he, like Flaubert, is master of the last sentence in paragraphs.
