Studies in Literature and the Humanities : Innocence of Intent

Language in itself does not mean, but persons can ' (P.40) . Keeping this aphorism in mind we can move to the 'knot or nucleus', as Whalley calls it , of his undertaking, the belief Studies in Literature and the Humanities do it, and watch himselfdoing it, capable even in his fascination of altering and reversing the action. (p.6g) In this view, the action of tragedy (to think of only one of the 'kinds' Aristotle has under his eye) is not a 'representation' or 'imitation' at all, but the specific delineation, within extremely fine limits, of a moral action so subtle, powerful and important that it is almost impossible to delineate it; an action selfgenerated that has as its end a recognition of the nature and destiny of man. (No wonder few 'tragedies' meet the specification .) In this view, mimesis is simply the continuous dynamic relation between a work of art and whatever stands over against it in the actual moral universe, or could conceivably stand over against it. (P.73) Whalley learned from Coleridge and from Aristotle that the tragic is not a matter of identifying a literary genre but of living and of recognising the fundamental truths of our natures. The affinities between these two cardinal influences on Whalley's literary criticism is too large a subject to do more than point to in an introduction. ## III For our present purpose it is enough to remind the reader that Professor Whalley's thought grew out of a long tradition. Like T. S. Eliot recovering Arnold's ground or F. R. Leavis taking both Eliot and Arnold as his starting-point for the renewed exploration of the old questions, Whalley requires us to be prepared to take long leaps backward in search of some rare and peculiarly illuminating mind. For humanists -preoccupied with the singleness and continuity of human thought -are often vividly aware of the contemporaneity of the past, even of the distant past; their concern is not so much to preserve tradition as to nourish and enrich a continuing life. (p. I I g) In this particular formulation Whalley speaks of this discipline as simply 'humane studies', but elsewhere the designation he favours is the less familiar phrase 'heuristic'. The urgent need for ## I The Mariner and the Albatross" For me , I was never so affected with any human Tale. After first reading it , I was totally possessed with it for many days -I dislike all the miraculous part of it, but the feelings of the man under the operation of such scenery dragged me along like Tom Piper's magic whistle. Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-14 The Mariner and the Albatross....Pages 15-34 Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism ....Pages 35-43 On Translating Aristotle’s Poetics....Pages 44-74 ‘Scholarship’, ‘Research’ and ‘The Pursuit of Truth’....Pages 75-101 ‘Research’ and the Humanities....Pages 102-121 Picking Up the Thread....Pages 122-144 Jane Austen: Poet....Pages 145-174 Birthright to the Sea: Some Poems of E. J. Pratt....Pages 175-196 Literature: An Instrument of Inquiry....Pages 197-214 Teaching Poetry....Pages 215-229 The Humanities in the World at Large....Pages 230-248 Back Matter....Pages 249-270