Las compañías que elegimos. Una ética de la ficción

by Wayne C. Booth

Desde el encumbramiento de la noción de "arte puro" durante el siglo XIX y gracias a la expansión de las versiones formalistas de la crítica literaria del XX, la pregunta sobre el inevitable sustrato ético de las artes narrativas ha sido ignorada por lo que puede tener de relativista y excluyente si se la ve sin cuidado. Pese a ello, en un tiempo en que los valores tradicionales de la cultura occidental han sido cuestionados hasta la demolición, se hace cada vez más indispensable restablecer una serie de nociones que permitan incluir los problemas axiológicos en el vasto diálogo universal de la crítica literaria. ¿Qué hacemos con Twain en un mundo políticamente correcto? ¿Cómo leer 1984 después de 1984? ¿Qué hacer con la idea clásica de la amistad en un mundo capaz de regodearse con Mad Max? El empeño de Wayne C. Booth en Las compañías que elegimos es cercar estos problemas y ofrecer herramientas para comenzar a dilucidarlos bajo una nueva luz, poderosa y valiente. "El hecho -dice el autor- de que ninguna narración será buena o mala para todos los lectores en todas las circunstancias no tiene por qué estorbarnos en nuestro esfuerzo por descubrir lo que es bueno o malo para nuestra condición aquí y ahora [...] Debo dejarle a cada lector la práctica de una ética de la lectura que pueda determinar cuáles criterios deberían contar más, y cuáles de las narraciones del mundo deberían proscribirse o aceptarse en el proyecto, que dura toda la vida, de construir el carácter de un lector ético"

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Literature, Academic, Writing, Reference

556 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Robert Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a magnificent book that, largely, soars over my head and disappears in the far off blue skies of 'never again'. That said, I'll probably read the author's most-recognized book, The Rhetoric of Fiction, next.

Writing in The New York Times Book Review in 1989, Anatole Broyard called this book "almost indecently satisfying." I wish I had AB's breadth of intellect. Although this is a good and useful book, the style is very uneven. I get the impression that it is a collection of articles masquerading as chapters, some of which are unreadable and others more approachable.

I particularly like the idea that the various theories about life and the world (Big Bang, Relativity, Creation, Evolution etc.) are merely competing metaphors. Just different ways to see the same thing. They are just the efforts of various humans to describe the indescribable.

There's lots to like here, but I don't like everything.

I also like what he says about friends. I'm heavily paraphrasing here, but what I get is that we should keep the company of those who can benefit us. and we should keep around us those we can, in turn, bring benefit to. The former category contains the books we read, and the latter, the books we write. Yeah, actually, that wasn't really in the book. I made it up.

Good book if you're into ethics or books. Bad book if you don't know how to speed-read and/or can't recognise when you should do so.

[Jack Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why didn't I read this in college? Maybe because it makes perfect sense.

[Sabina Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

In _The Company We Keep_ (1992), Booth argues that we learn how to be human by incorporating others’ better selves. Readers thus engage in what he calls "co-duction," a practice in which qualified observers compare experiences. These observers may not share governing assumptions, which Booth calls “warrants.” Warrants require proof. You can say anything you like as long as your tone is right, but you can claim something only if you have evidence.

An important corollary is that articles of faith cannot be proven. As in _The Rhetoric of Fiction_ (1961), where Booth inaugurated the concept of the implied author, he focuses again on rhetoric to approach art as communication and ethical persuasion (more than as aesthetic contemplation). Building on Rene Welleck's point that the work of art exists as a structure of norms, Booth looks at the performance and negotiation of those norms in and through reading practices, and in "the company we keep."

[Ed Parke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Certainly one of the better works of literary criticism I've read. Of particular interest (to me) is the suggested relationship between reading as ethical act, and the ethics of identity formation/ understanding of self and others. Indeed, Booth's work is an important complement to reception and hermeneutics at these interdisciplinary points. It is to be praised for its jargon-light readability which nevertheless establishes itself firmly within scholarship.
As another reviewer says here, The Company We Keep just makes sense.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has changed my life and was a significant emotional event in my life. I recommend that you read it. The bibliography itself is worth the price.

It tells you how to evaluate the worth of a book, without trashing it or and without making any author feel inferior. It is fair in its methods of evaluating stories and novels and teaches you how to review a book before you invest a hundred hours into reading it.

[Jeremy]

Referenced positively in Leithart's essay in Ryken's The Christian Imagination.

[Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not done with it yet. But so far the book has so much to offer.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not uninteresting, but he goes on at far too great a length and far too diffusely. I ended up skipping through about half of it, after dutifully plowing through every page to begin with.

[Liaken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read filled with ideas and tie-ins and examples from all corners.

[globulon]

Picked this up after reading the introduction to Nussbaum's "Love's Knowledge". I really liked what she had to say there about the relationship between philosophy and literature. She spoke quite highly of this there. So when I saw it I decided to pick it up.

[Leslie Fincke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great look at growing a small business without losing sight of its founding principles. Emphasis on the importance of employee ownership and empowerment.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was recently reminded of this book while reading Nussbaum's Cultivating Humanity. One of the most important books on literary criticism and interpretation you will ever read. Really--read it.