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OverviewA reflective volume of essays on literature and literary study from a storied professor. In The Pensive Citadel, Victor Brombert looks back on a lifetime of learning within a university world greatly altered since he entered Yale on the GI bill in the 1940s. Yet for all that has changed, so much of Brombert’s long experience as a reader and teacher is richly familiar: the rewards of rereading, the joy of learning from students, and most of all the insight to be found in engaging works of literature. The essays gathered here range from meditations on laughter and jealousy to new appreciations of Brombert’s lifelong companions Shakespeare, Montaigne, Voltaire, and Stendhal. A veteran of D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge who witnessed history’s worst nightmares at firsthand, Brombert nevertheless approaches literature with a lightness of spirit, making the case for intellectual mobility and an openness to change. The Pensive Citadel is a celebration of a life lived in literary study, and of what can be learned from attending to the works that form one’s cultural heritage. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Victor Brombert , Christy WampolePublisher: The University of Chicago Press Imprint: University of Chicago Press Dimensions: Width: 14.00cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 21.60cm Weight: 0.313kg ISBN: 9780226828664ISBN 10: 0226828662 Pages: 192 Publication Date: 06 October 2023 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In stock  We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately. Table of ContentsForeword by Christy Wampole Preface Part I In Nostalgia 1 The Pensive Citadel 2 Between Two Worlds 3 What Existentialism Meant to Us 4 Cleopatra at Yale 5 “Brombingo!”—Learning from Students Part II The Ludic Mode 6 The Paradox of Laughter 7 In Praise of Jealousy? 8 On Rereading Part III The French Connection 9 Lessons of Montaigne 10 The Audacities of Molière’s Don Juan 11 The Bitterness of Candide 12 Encounters with Monsieur Beyle 13 Baudelaire: Visions of Paris 14 The Year of the Eiffel Tower 15 Malraux and the World of Violence Part IV The Exit 16 The Permanent Sabbatical Acknowledgments IndexReviews"“The Pensive Citadel offers an elegiac account of a life as reader and teacher—and lover of literature who knows how to share that love.” * Peter Brooks, Yale University * “The Pensive Citadel is an engaging and persuasive plea for the central importance of literature to a well-rounded existence and a vigorous life of the mind. Brombert deftly weaves his own experiences and his changing responses to works of literature into his readings and rereadings. In this book, he successfully answers a question he often discussed with his students: Do literary works merely provide a higher form of entertainment, or is the printed word the revelation of a dialogue we carry on with ourselves? It is most emphatically both and more.” * Tess Lewis, writer, essayist, and translator * “There is an old-fashioned pleasure in reading these essays and being so intimately in the company of its witty, reflective, and deeply read author. I suggest beginning at the end with ‘The Permanent Sabbatical’ and then moving on to ‘In Praise of Jealousy?’ round the middle and then on to the rest. One cannot go wrong.” * Thomas W. Laqueur, University of California, Berkeley * ""Retired Princeton University comparative literature professor Brombert reflects on his life in academia in this ruminative essay collection. . . . Brombert’s enthusiastic takes on the French classics show what made him a beloved professor, but the reverent accounts of university life and detailed discussions of navigating trends in literary criticism will hold the most appeal for fellow academics. Literature scholars will want to check this out."" * Publishers Weekly *" The Pensive Citadel offers an elegiac account of a life as reader and teacher-and lover of literature who knows how to share that love. * Peter Brooks, Yale University * The Pensive Citadel is an engaging and persuasive plea for the central importance of literature to a well-rounded existence and a vigorous life of the mind. Brombert deftly weaves his own experiences and his changing responses to works of literature into his readings and rereadings. In this book, he successfully answers a question he often discussed with his students: Do literary works merely provide a higher form of entertainment, or is the printed word the revelation of a dialogue we carry on with ourselves? It is most emphatically both and more. * Tess Lewis, writer, essayist, and translator * The Pensive Citadel is an engaging and persuasive plea for the central importance of literature to a well-rounded existence and a vigorous life of the mind. Brombert deftly weaves his own experiences and his changing responses to works of literature into his readings and rereadings. In this book, he successfully answers a question he often discussed with his students: Do literary works merely provide a higher form of entertainment, or is the printed word the revelation of a dialogue we carry on with ourselves? It is most emphatically both and more. * Tess Lewis, writer, essayist, and translator * Author InformationVictor Brombert is the Henry Putnam University Professor Emeritus of Romance and Comparative Literature at Princeton University and the author of many books. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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