Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : Masud, Noreen (1989-....)
Titre(s) : Stevie Smith and the aphorism [Texte imprimé] : hard language / Noreen Masud
Publication : Oxford, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, copyright 2022
Description matérielle : xi, 191 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Collection : Oxford English monographs
Lien à la collection : Oxford English monographs
Note(s) : Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-187) and index
This monograph draws up a new theory of the aphorism, a form which has received limited
critical treatment in literary and philosophical studies. It uses this model of aphorism
to frame an original approach to the enigmatic poetry and novels of Stevie Smith (1902-1971).
The monograph suggests that aphorism represents a tool for the social management of
emotion. Rhetorically corralled into a slick, collectable shape, the aphorism promises
arresting and instantaneous epiphany. However, the accomplished elegance which positions
the aphorism's message as self-evidently true in fact works to repel further enquiry,
and ultimately ensures that it will be forgotten or bypassed in favour of another
aphorism: no less eagerly embraced for the earlier disappointment. Aphorism, therefore,
is a form in which dangerous ideas and emotions can be safely displayed and, simultaneously,
effaced. Because aphorism's style defuses the imperative to act on what is clearly
known, writers like Stevie Smith can use the form to stage a withdrawal from the burden
of making an impact on the world. The book finds that Smith's use of aphorism and
its related forms (proverb, epitaph, caption, and fragment) offers a route into her
texts. Drawing on hitherto unpublished archival material, this project argues that
Smith's texts resist analysis because, like the aphorisms embedded throughout them,
they offer and exemplify a mode of clearly-declared revelation which, at the same
time, makes itself unusable
Sujet(s) : Smith, Stevie (1902-1971) -- Thèmes, motifs
Aphorismes et apophtegmes anglais -- Dans la littérature
Indice(s) Dewey : 821.91 (23e éd.) = Poésie de langue anglaise - 1900-1999 [critique]
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 9780192895899. - ISBN 0192895893 (rel.)
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb473545846
Notice n° :
FRBNF47354584
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)
