The Biography of "the Idea of Literature"

From Antiquity to the Baroque

By Adrian Marino
Translated by Virgil Stanciu & Charles M. Carlton

Subjects: Literary Theory
Series: SUNY series, The Margins of Literature
Paperback : 9780791428948, 336 pages, December 1996
Hardcover : 9780791428931, 336 pages, December 1996

Alternative formats available from:

Table of contents

Acknowledgments
Preface
I. Antiquity

First Definitions

 

Written Literature
Oral Literature
Sacred Literature
Profane Literature

 

Literary Culture

 

Grammar and Culture
Vocation for Totality
The Book
The Library
The Beginning of Bibliography
The Encyclopedia
"Liberal Art"
"Human Letters"
"Good Letters"

 

The Coordinates of Culture

 

New Versus Old Letters
National Versus Universal Letters

 

The Beginning of Estheticizing

 

"Beautiful Letters"
Literary Versus Poetic Specificity
Autonomy and Heteronomy
Hierarchy in Literature

 

The School of Literature

 

Letters "Spawn" Literature
Critical Literature

 

Denying Literature

Conclusions

II. The Middle Ages

Sacred Letters

Profane Letters

 

Written Literature
Oral Literature

 

The Culture of Letters

 

Grammar and Culture
The Totality of Letters
The Book
The Library
The Bibliography
The Encyclopedia

 

Diversification of Profane Letters

 

"Liberal Letters"
"Human Letters"
"Good Letters"

 

The Coordinates of Letters

 

New Versus Old Letters
National Versus Universal Letters
Popular Letters

 

Estheticizing Letters

 

"Beautiful Letters"
Literature and Poetry
Poetic Literature
Literariness: Sacred Versus Profane
The Beginning of Autonomy

 

The Heteronomy of Letters

Hierarchy in Literature

The School of Literature

 

The Study of Literature
Literary Composition
Literature on Literature
Critical Literature

 

Denying Literature

Conclusions

III. The Renaissance and Humanism

Letters Are Humanized and Spiritualized

 

"Human Letters"
"Liberal Letters"
"Good Letters"

 

Profane Letters

 

Written Literature
Oral Literature

 

Sacred Letters

The Culture of Letters

 

Grammar and Culture
The Totality of Literature
Encyclopedic Knowledge
Letters and Print
The Book of Literature
The Literature Library
The Beginning of Bibliography

 

The Coordinates of Letters

 

New Versus Old Letters
National Versus Universal Letters
Popular Letters

 

Estheticizing Letters

 

"Beautiful Letters"
Beautiful Literature
Literature or Poetry?
Literary Art
Literary Versus Poetic Specificity
The Autonomy of Literature: Progress

 

The Heteronomy of Literature

 

"The Republic of Letters"
Society
Economy
Ideology

 

Hierarchy in Literature

The School of Literature

 

The Study of Literature
Literature with Literature
Literature on Literature
Critical Literature

 

Denying Literature

Conclusions

IV. Classicism and the Baroque

Traditional Definitions

 

Grammar and Culture
Written Literature
Oral Literature
Sacred Literature
Profane Literature

 

Organizing Letters

 

The Totality of Letters
The Book
The Library
The Bibliography
The Encyclopedia

 

The Classicization of Traditional Definitions

 

"Human Letters"
"Liberal Letters"
"Good Letters"

 

The Coordinates of Letters

 

Ancient Versus Modem Letters
National Versus World Literature
Popular Letters

 

Estheticizing Letters

 

"Beautiful Letters"
Beautiful Literature
Literature or Poetry?
Poetic Literature
Literary Art
Literary Versus Poetic Specificity
The Autonomy of Literature

 

The Heteronomy of Literature

 

"The Republic of Letters"
Society
Economy
Ideology

 

Hierarchy in Literature

The School of Literature

 

Literature with Literature
Literature on Literature
Critical Literature

 

Denying Literature

Conclusions

Notes

Name Index

Thematic Index

A comprehensive examination of the meaning, history, and evolution of the basic notion of "literature" from antiquity to the seventeenth century.

Description

The "idea of literature" is the very kernel of every literary study; however, this is the first survey of the historical development of this idea. Its purpose is to refute the belief, particularly prevalent in French criticism, that the "idea of literature" only appeared in the eighteenth century, and that it was perceived strictly as an art.

Adrian Marino is a scholar in Romania who has written books on literary hermeneutics, comparative literature, the history of literary criticism, and critical terminology. His work has been translated into French, Italian, German, Japanese, and English. Marino's most recent book, published in Italy, is a study of literary theory, Teoria della letteratura.

Reviews

"This book documents the slowness of institutionalization, particularly of literature. It describes the chaotic and gradual growth of the concept of literature. Without having any axe to grind, it neatly deconstructs (or, at least pokes holes into) any kind of purely rationalist/voluntarist view of invention so prevalent nowdays." -- Virgil Nemoianu, Catholic University of America

"Contrary to the widespread belief that the idea of literature in our modern sense emerged in the eighteenth century, Marino convincingly demonstrates that it goes back to ancient times. He makes the interesting point that much of what we identify as literature belonged, in antiquity and in the medieval period, to the domain of orality. Marino does an outstanding job covering the least known stages in the history of the concept of literature, from Greco-Roman antiquity through the Renaissance and Neo-Classical to the age of the Baroque." -- Matei Calinescu, Indiana University