Recognitions A Study in Poetics [Paperback]

Anagnorisis--recognition--is one of the least familiar terms in Aristotelian poetics, yet it is used to describe one of the most familiar features of drama and narrative fiction. This invaluable study by leading Renaissance scholar Terence Cave is the first to trace the history of the term and to explore its role in French, German, and English literature as a continuing focus for theoretical reflection.

Both a vindication of Aristotle and a critique. It is a brilliant work. --The Christian Science Monitor

Terence Cave writes like an artist.Recognitionsis a dazzling achievement. --London Review of Books

Recognitionsis a wide ranging, learned, angaging commentary on anagnorisis, or recognition, a topic that has been largely neglected in contemporary literary theory. It is packed with detailed historical information, pointed theoretical discussions, and lucid readings of texts.... Cave usefully explores the alignments described in the closing pages when he describes the history and the implications of recognition in both literature and poetics.... the book deserves serious consideration by anyone interested in the history of poetics, in anti-mimetic theories of literature, and in the mutually illuminating relations between poetics and literature. Philosophy and Literature

[Recognitions] addresses his widest audience yet, and confirms both [Cave's] reputation for scrupulous scholarship and his gift for detecting the theoretical and practical consequences of what might appear to be a minor fact or theme. --Renaissance Quarterly

An erudite book that will become a standard. --Journal of European Studies