Derek Attridge is a British academic specializing in English literature. He is a professor of English literature at the University of York. His work focuses on modern and contemporary literature, with a particular emphasis on avant-garde and experimental forms of writing. Attridge explores how innovative literary practices shape our understanding of literature and its place in society.
Focusing on the evolution of poetry from late Antiquity to the Renaissance, this account delves into its significance within Western culture. It examines how poetry shaped societal values and artistic expression during these transformative periods, highlighting key performances and their cultural impact. Through historical analysis, the book reveals the enduring influence of poetic traditions and their role in reflecting and shaping human experience across centuries.
This book provides extensive evidence of the importance of close attention to the moving and sounding of language in the poems we take pleasure in. It investigates the ways in which poets have exploited the resources of the language as a spoken medium to write verse that continues to move and delight.
The innovative format of "dialogical poetics" challenges traditional poetry criticism by emphasizing the ongoing negotiation between readers rather than presenting fixed interpretations. This approach reveals that readings of poems are dynamic and collaborative, highlighting the interactions and discussions that shape our understanding of poetry.
The collection features a series of interconnected essays that delve into the works of James Joyce, offering insightful analysis and commentary from a prominent contemporary scholar. Each essay explores various themes, characters, and stylistic elements in Joyce's writing, providing a deeper understanding of his literary significance and influence. This work serves as both an academic resource and a thoughtful reflection on Joyce's contributions to literature.
Exploring the intricacies of literary language, this influential work delves into the unique features and functions of language in literature. First published in 1988, it has become a cornerstone in the field, offering profound insights into how language shapes narrative and meaning. The book examines the relationship between language and literary expression, making it essential reading for those interested in linguistics, literary theory, and the art of writing.
This text communicates a user-friendly way to explore the rhythms of poetry in English. Side-stepping the jargon that often runs through discussions of meter, the authors begin with the basic idea of poetry as a performance and suggest a fresh approach to reading poetic texts.
This is the first introduction to rhythm and meter that begins where students are: as speakers of English familiar with the rhythms of the spoken word, nursery rhymes, song and rap. Poetic Rhythm builds on this knowledge and experience, moving from basic questions about the rhythms of spoken English to the elaborate achievements of past and present poets. Terminology is straightforward and there are frequent practical exercises. Poetic Rhythm will help readers of English poetry experience and enjoy its power, subtlety and diversity, and will serve as an invaluable tool for those who write or discuss poetry in English.
Creation and the other -- Originality and invention -- Inventive language and the literary event -- Singularity -- Reading and responding -- Performance -- Form, meaning, context -- Responsibility and ethics -- An everyday impossibility
Nobel Prize-winning novelist J. M. Coetzee is one of the most widely taught contemporary writers, but also one of the most elusive. Many critics who have addressed his work have devoted themselves to rendering it more accessible and acceptable, often playing down the features that discomfort and perplex his readers.Yet it is just these features, Derek Attridge argues, that give Coetzee's work its haunting power and offer its greatest rewards. Attridge does justice to this power and these rewards in a study that serves as an introduction for readers new to Coetzee and a stimulus for thought for those who know his work well. Without overlooking the South African dimension of his fiction, Attridge treats Coetzee as a writer who raises questions of central importance to current debates both within literary studies and more widely in the ethical arena. Implicit throughout the book is Attridge's view that literature, more than philosophy, politics, or even religion, does singular justice to our ethical impulses and acts. Attridge follows Coetzee's lead in exploring a number of issues such as interpretation and literary judgment, responsibility to the other, trust and betrayal, artistic commitment, confession, and the problematic idea of truth to the self.