William Empson: Prophet Against Sacrifice [Paperback]

William Empson: Prophet Against Sacrifice provides the most coherent account of Empson's diverse career to date. While exploring the richness of Empson's comic genius, Paul H. Fry serves to discredit the appropriation of his name in recent polemic by the conflicting parties of deconstruction and politicized cultural criticism. He argues that Empson is a larger, more important figure than the orthodox in either camp can acknowledge, deserving to be considered alongside such versatile critics as Walter Benjamin, Kenneth Burke and Roland Barthes.In this most coherent account of William Empson's career, Fry rescues this important critic from the conflicting camps of deconstruction and cultural criticism, placing him alongside such critics as Walter Benjamin, Kenneth Burke and Roland Barthes.Preface and acknowledgments1 Introduction: the scapegoat and the word 2 Satanic criticism: Empson and the Romantic tradition logical disorder: Empson on method 4 Toward late Empson: the failure of pastoral 5 Middle Spirits and Empsons chain of beingUS? 1991 Paul H.Fry