The Pleasures of Reading in an Ideological Age

The John Keats versus Bob Dylan debate is at its most fierce in the USA, where issues such as political correctness, the literary canon, literary theory and identity politics are hotly disputed on university campuses. This text, with a new preface by its author, deals with the conflict between the proponents of popular culture on the one hand and the defenders of high art on the other. Robert Alter argues passionately for great literature, and using examples from world literature, seeks to illuminate the key elements of literature - what distinguishes a string of words by a great writer from a list in a telephone directory - and illustrates the pleasure that can be experienced when a reader enters and explores the world that a writer has built. He offers a guide through centuries of great writing.