false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170985483m/80795.jpg 80795 8 <p>A half-century after its translation into English, Erich Auerbach's <i>Mimesis</i> still stands as a monumental achievement in literary criticism. A brilliant display of erudition, wit, and wisdom, his exploration of how great European writers from Homer to Virginia Woolf depicted reality has taught generations how to read Western literature. This new expanded edition includes a substantial essay in introduction by Edward Said as well as an essay, never before translated into English, in which Auerbach responds to his critics.</p><p>A German Jew, Auerbach was forced out of his professorship at the University of Marburg in 1935. He left for Turkey, where he taught at the state university in Istanbul. There he wrote <i>Mimesis</i>, publishing it in German after the end of the war. Displaced as he was, Auerbach produced a work of great erudition that contains no footnotes, basing his arguments instead on searching, illuminating readings of key passages from his primary texts. His aim was to show how from antiquity to the twentieth century literature progressed toward ever more naturalistic and democratic forms of representation. This essentially optimistic view of European history now appears as a defensive--and impassioned--response to the inhumanity he saw in the Third Reich. Ranging over works in Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and English, Auerbach used his remarkable skills in philology and comparative literature to refute any narrow form of nationalism or chauvinism, in his own day and ours.</p><p> For many readers, both inside and outside the academy, <i>Mimesis</i> is among the finest works of literary criticism ever written.</p> 515821 1946 Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature total:171|5:91|4:50|3:28|2:2|1:0| 171 743 359 29 5 1 false false Fri Feb 27 00:44:58 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 00:50:37 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Sep 21 10:39:46 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 21 10:39:46 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jan 22 10:01:14 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 22 10:21:26 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 01 09:20:49 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 09:20:49 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 11:00:14 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 11:01:18 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Feb 24 21:23:04 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 21:23:04 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Dec 20 14:32:36 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 20 14:33:15 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Fri Jul 10 00:01:44 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 00:02:01 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Thu Apr 03 09:20:07 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 16 09:24:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Aug 07 07:26:09 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 07 07:30:41 -0700 2007
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However, I love it! It's fascinating. Fantastic. An immediate five stars.

I actually thought it was a lot easier to understand than The Iliad (bleh!)...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Sat Dec 08 15:31:11 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 08 15:33:18 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 30 19:46:53 -0700 2008 Sat Jan 24 13:02:08 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 12 08:20:50 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 12 08:22:33 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1978 Thu Mar 13 20:02:58 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 13 21:49:53 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Wed Sep 12 10:03:07 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 12 10:05:10 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1978 Sat Jun 07 05:24:22 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 27 10:45:24 -0700 2008 5 0 true false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Mon Jun 11 12:50:39 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 11 12:53:51 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 02 15:05:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 15 22:50:59 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=80795