An Experiment in Criticism (Canto Classics)

Why do we read literature and how do we judge it? C. S. Lewis's classic An Experiment in Criticism springs from the conviction that literature exists for the joy of the reader and that books should be judged by the kind of reading they invite. He argues that 'good reading', like moral action or religious experience, involves surrender to the work in hand and a process of entering fully into the opinions of others: 'in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself'. Crucial to his notion of judging literature is a commitment to laying aside expectations and values extraneous to the work, in order to approach it with an open mind. Amid the complex welter of current critical theories, C. S. Lewis's wisdom is valuably down-to-earth, refreshing and stimulating in the questions it raises about the experience of reading.

• The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature (Canto Classics)
• Studies in Words (Canto Classics)
• Selected Literary Essays (Canto Classics)
• Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature (Canto Classics)
• On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature
• God in the Dock
• The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition (Canto Classics)
• Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
• Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
• The Abolition of Man