A Little History of Literature
Read A Little History of Literature Online
Authors: John Sutherland
Lines from ‘The Waste Land’ by T.S. Eliot, from
Collected Poems
© Estate of T.S. Eliot and reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber Ltd. Three lines from ‘Lady Lazarus’ by Sylvia Plath, from
Ariel
; copyright © 1963 by Ted Hughes, reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Lines from ‘Waking in the Blue’ by Robert Lowell, from
Collected Poems
; copyright 2003 by Harriet Lowell and Sheridan Lowell, reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
Illustrations by Sarah Young
Copyright © 2013 by John Sutherland
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sutherland, John, 1938-
A little history of literature / John Sutherland.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-18685-7 (alk. paper)
1. Literature—History and criticism. I. Title.
PN511.S746 2013
809—dc23
2013024200
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
M
YTH
E
PIC
T
RAGEDY
C
HAUCER
T
HE
M
YSTERY
P
lays
S
HAKESPEARE
T
HE
K
ING
J
AMES
B
IBLE
T
HE
M
ETAPHYSICALS
M
ILTON AND
S
PENSER
P
RINTING
, P
UBLISHING AND
C
OPYRIGHT
D
EFOE
, S
WIFT AND THE
R
ISE OF THE
N
OVEL
D
R
J
OHNSON
A
USTEN
T
HE
C
HANGING
R
EADING
P
UBLIC
D
ICKENS
T
HE
B
RONTëS
L
ITERATURE AND
C
HILDREN
W
ILDE
, B
AUDELAIRE
, P
ROUST AND
W
HITMAN
T
ENNYSON
A
MERICA AND THE
A
MERICAN
V
OICE
H
ARDY
L
ITERATURE AND THE
C
ENSOR
K
IPLING
, C
ONRAD AND
F
ORSTER
T
HE
W
AR
P
OETS
1922 AND THE
M
ODERNISTS
W
OOLF
U
TOPIAS AND
D
YSTOPIAS
C
OMPLEX
N
ARRATIVES
L
ITERATURE ON
F
ILM
, TV
AND THE
S
TAGE
K
AFKA
, C
AMUS
, B
ECKETT AND
P
INTER
L
OWELL
, P
LATH
, L
ARKIN AND
H
UGHES
L
ITERATURE AND
R
ACE
B
ORGES
, G
RASS
, R
USHDIE AND
M
áRQUEZ
L
ITERATURE
W
ITHOUT
B
ORDERS
B
ESTSELLERS AND
P
OTBOILERS
P
RIZES
, F
ESTIVALS AND
R
EADING
G
ROUPS
CHAPTER
1
What is Literature?
Imagine that, like Robinson Crusoe, you are marooned for the rest of your days on a desert island. What one book would you most want to have with you? That is a question asked on one of the longest-running and most-loved programmes on BBC radio,
Desert Island Discs
. Broadcast also on the BBC's World Service, it is listened to across the globe.
The question is one of two that are put to that week's guest, after we have heard snatches of the eight pieces of music they would take to the island. The castaway is allowed one luxury – what will it be? Answers are usually very ingenious: at least a couple of guests have chosen cyanide pills, for instance, and another chose the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Then they are asked which book they would like, in addition to the Bible (or any other equivalent religious volume) and the works of Shakespeare, which are already on the island – presumably left by the previous occupant, who chose the pill.