Skip to Main Content

How to Do Things with Fictions

Online ISBN:
9780199949458
Print ISBN:
9780195188561
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

How to Do Things with Fictions

Joshua Landy
Joshua Landy

Associate Professor of French

Stanford University
Find on
Published online:
20 September 2012
Published in print:
3 August 2012
Online ISBN:
9780199949458
Print ISBN:
9780195188561
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This book offers a new rationale for the place of literary reading in the well-lived life. While it is often assumed that fictions must be informative or morally improving in order to be of any real benefit to us, certain texts defy this assumption by functioning as training-grounds for the capacities: in engaging with them we stand not to become more knowledgeable or more virtuous but more skilled, whether at rational thinking, at maintaining necessary illusions, at achieving tranquillity of mind, or even at religious faith. Instead of offering us propositional knowledge, these texts yield know-how; rather than attempting to instruct by means of their content, they hone capacities by means of their form; far from seducing with the promise of instantaneous transformation, they recognize, with Aristotle, that change is a matter of sustained and patient practice. Their demands are high, but the reward they promise is nothing short of a more richly lived life.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close