The Living Principle: English' as a Discipline of Thought (Leavis)

The Living Principle is among the most philosophical of F.R. Leavis's books, a defense of the study of literature as an autonomous discipline involving intellectual rigor of the highest sort. Constant references to the Cambridge University of Leavis's time may make the book seem parochial and dated, but the central premises are still relevant. What has changed? Only that, if Leavis were alive today, he would be defending literature against English departments' trendy intellectual fashions rather than the sneers of philosophers.

Fully a third of The Living Principle is devoted to Leavis's brilliant and irascible engagement with T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets. Other gems include his analysis of exactly why John Dryden's description of Cleopatra in All for Love is so pedestrian next to Shakespeare's in Anthony and Cleopatra. It's a treat to read someone who can talk intelligently about Blake or Dickens in one paragraph, and about Russell or Wittgenstein in the next--without being awed by any of them. --Richard Farr