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Memoirs of a Leavisite
David Ellis
€ 54.51
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Description for Memoirs of a Leavisite
Hardcover. Part study of Leavis, part memoir of being taught by him and his lasting influence on the author and on a whole generation of English Literature scholars. Num Pages: 160 pages. BIC Classification: 2AB; BM; DSA; JNM. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 161 x 230 x 20. Weight in Grams: 528.
In the second half of the last century, the teaching of English literature was very much influenced and, in some places, entirely dominated by the ideas of F. R. Leavis. What was it like to be taught by this iconic figure? How and why did one become a Leavisite? In this unique book, part memoir, part study of Leavis, David Ellis takes himself as representative of that pool of lower middle class grammar school pupils from which Leavisites were largely recruited, and explores the beliefs of both the Leavises, their lasting impact on him and why ultimately they were doomed to failure. At the heart of this book are questions about what English should and can be that are by no means finally settled.
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2013
Publisher
Liverpool University Press United Kingdom
Number of pages
160
Condition
New
Number of Pages
160
Place of Publication
Liverpool, United Kingdom
ISBN
9781846318894
SKU
V9781846318894
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-50
About David Ellis
David Ellis is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Kent. His previous books include 'Death and the author: how D. H. Lawrence died, and was remembered' (OUP, 2008) and 'Literary Lives: Biography and the search for understanding' (EUP, 2003). His website can be found at: http://dellis-author.co.uk
Reviews for Memoirs of a Leavisite
[A] wise, patient and delightful book.
The Spectator
A memoir of beautifully evoked ghosts.
Times Higher Education
David Ellis's final affirmation that the approach that Leavis advocated still provides the best insurance that he has come across against "the tendency of institutions to churn on regardless, quite cut off from any initial social aim or utility" resonates in the mind after one has closed this brief, tactful and deceptively quiet book.
Times Literary Supplement
Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, faculty, general readers.
Choice, Vol. 51. No. 07
A beautifully written, engaging and informative work ... It gives vivid and witty accounts of both F.R. and Q.D. Leavis’s fraught and often fractious relationships with colleagues and contemporaries, but the tone is never malicious or one-sided. Above all, it is a book about the role that literature might play in a life. Laura Marcus I also enjoyed David Ellis's Memoirs of a Leavisite (Liverpool University Press), an autobiography that, while providing first-hand evidence of Leavis's influence on university English departments the world over, distinguishes itself from many a work by Leavisite hands by its note of self-deprecation. D. J. Taylor, Times Literary Supplement 'Books of the Year 2013'
Times Literary Supplement 'Books of the Year 2013'
I loved two works of non-fiction that could have been written just for me - Alwyn W Turner's A Classless Society and David Ellis's Memoirs of a Leavisite. Leo Robson, The New Statesman, 'Books of the Year 2013'
The New Statesman, 'Books of the Year 2013'
A personal memoir cannot pretend to be an easy introduction to the study of literature; yet the modest frankness with which he shows his colours, with no attempt to disguise personal preferences and standards (rather too cheerful to be strictly “Leavisian”), makes this “confession” a richly rewarding joy to read. Archive fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen
The Spectator
A memoir of beautifully evoked ghosts.
Times Higher Education
David Ellis's final affirmation that the approach that Leavis advocated still provides the best insurance that he has come across against "the tendency of institutions to churn on regardless, quite cut off from any initial social aim or utility" resonates in the mind after one has closed this brief, tactful and deceptively quiet book.
Times Literary Supplement
Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, faculty, general readers.
Choice, Vol. 51. No. 07
A beautifully written, engaging and informative work ... It gives vivid and witty accounts of both F.R. and Q.D. Leavis’s fraught and often fractious relationships with colleagues and contemporaries, but the tone is never malicious or one-sided. Above all, it is a book about the role that literature might play in a life. Laura Marcus I also enjoyed David Ellis's Memoirs of a Leavisite (Liverpool University Press), an autobiography that, while providing first-hand evidence of Leavis's influence on university English departments the world over, distinguishes itself from many a work by Leavisite hands by its note of self-deprecation. D. J. Taylor, Times Literary Supplement 'Books of the Year 2013'
Times Literary Supplement 'Books of the Year 2013'
I loved two works of non-fiction that could have been written just for me - Alwyn W Turner's A Classless Society and David Ellis's Memoirs of a Leavisite. Leo Robson, The New Statesman, 'Books of the Year 2013'
The New Statesman, 'Books of the Year 2013'
A personal memoir cannot pretend to be an easy introduction to the study of literature; yet the modest frankness with which he shows his colours, with no attempt to disguise personal preferences and standards (rather too cheerful to be strictly “Leavisian”), makes this “confession” a richly rewarding joy to read. Archive fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen