Grounds for Comparison

This collection of thirty-six of Harry Levin’s essays, written between 1937 and 1971, reflects the wide range of his interests. Some of the essays deal with individual writers or works—Moliere, Ben Jonson, William Carlos Williams, Dickens, Proust, Joyce, Thomas Mann, Don Quixote, The Charterhouse of Parma, The House of the Seven Gables. Others discuss the vicissitudes of realism in the novel and the problems of censorship and pornography. The critical pieces exemplify Levin’s conception of the modern critic’s best attributes: sympathetic detachment, an enlightened relativism, and a familiarity with several languages and cultures. There are fascinating portraits of illustrious academic figures, both American and European, as well as clarifying discussions of critical theory and scholarly method. Also included is a complete bibliography of published writings by Levin. CONTENTS A PERSONAL RETROSPECT LEECH-GATHERING THE MODERN HUMANITIES IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE WHY LITERARY CRITICISM IS NOT AN EXACT SCIENCE ENGLISH, AMERICAN, AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE COMPARING THE LITERATURE THEMATICS AND CRITICISM TWO ROMANISTEN IN AMERICA: SPITZER AND AUERBACH A DIALOGUE WITH ARTHUR LOVEJOY MEMOIRS OF SCHOLARS, 1: MEMOIRS OF SCHOLARS, 2: MEMOIRS OF SCHOLARS, 3: MEMOIRS OF SCHOLARS, 4: THE JUDGMENT OF POSTERITY FROM TERENCE TO TABARIN: A NOTE ON LES FOURBERIES DE SCAPIN AN INTRODUCTION TO BEN JONSON ON THE EARL OF ROCHESTER FROM GUSLE TO TAPE-RECORDER THE QUIXOTIC PRINCIPLE: CERVANTES AND OTHER NOVELISTS ON THE DISSEMINATION OF REALISM AMERICA DISCOVERS BOHEMIA WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS AND THE OLD WORLD FOOTNOTES TO POETS, 1: FOOTNOTES TO POETS, 2: FOOTNOTES TO POETS, 3: REAPPRAISALS OF NOVELS, 1: LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES REAPPRAISALS OF NOVELS, 2: THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA REAPPRAISALS OF NOVELS, 3: THE SCARLET LETTER REAPPRAISALS OF NOVELS, 4: THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES DICKENS AFTER A CENTURY PROUST, GIDE, AND THE SEXES JOYCE AS CRITIC TRAGEDY, REVOLUTION, AND ANDRÉ MALRAUX THE HARVEST OF THOMAS MANN INTRODUCING VLADIMIR NABOKOV “A MATTER OF NATIONAL CONCERN”: THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON OBSCENITY AND PORNOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX