Murray Krieger Libros

Murray Krieger explores the distinction between "tragic vision" and "tragedy," arguing that the latter refers to literary form while the former pertains to a subject's psychological perspective. He aims to define tragic vision in a way that resonates with modern literature and thought. Krieger suggests that the contemporary protagonist should be seen as a "tragic visionary," reflecting a shift in how tragedy is perceived in the modern context, where the holistic view of tragedy has diminished.

Focusing on the role of criticism, the title essay introduces Professor Krieger's "contextualist" stance, emphasizing the critic's vital function in connecting contemporary poetry with the broader language. He characterizes the critic's role as rhapsodic, engaging deeply with the poet's inspiration, which can transcend analytical boundaries. Krieger advocates for a "still movement" in poetry, exploring the interplay of temporal and spatial elements. The collection also analyzes works by notable authors like Shakespeare and Hawthorne, situating his perspective within various critical traditions.

Exploring the concept of "presence," the work delves into the complexities of poetic interpretation within Western poetics. Krieger addresses the tension between the literary object and its cultural context, advocating for a dual awareness of poetry as both an intentional object and a reflection of broader historical narratives. The book is structured in three parts: defining the critic's role, tracing the evolution of poetic form from classical to modern thought, and examining the interplay of metaphor and reality. Ultimately, it calls for a multifaceted approach to reading poetry.

The book delves into the mythology derived from Shakespeare's Sonnets, using it as a framework for interpretation. The author develops a poetics that embraces a bold and comprehensive perspective on poetry, employing the metaphors of window and mirror to examine the interplay between a poem's insular context and its broader historical and existential implications.

Exploring the duality of poetry, this book delves into the concept of poetic presence as an illusion that shapes the reader's reality. Krieger argues that poetry exists within an illusionary context, acting as both a metaphor and a tangible force in understanding personal and poetic experiences. Through analysis of Renaissance and contemporary poems, he evaluates the interplay between illusion and reality, offering insights into the evolution of his critical perspective. This work serves as a bridge for readers familiar with his previous writings.

He sees divisions in each of them that foreshadow the current debates: in the first a conflict between the social and the aesthetic functions of literature, and in the second a conflict between the treatment of literature as a reflection of a culture's ideology and the treatment of literature as a subversion of that ideology. To what extent, he asks, are our debates new and to what extent are they merely refashioned versions of those we have always had?

As he examines the conflict between the spatial and temporal, between vision- centered and word-centered metaphors, Krieger reveals how literary theory has been shaped by the attempts and the deceptive failures of language to do the job of the natural sign.

And he argues that, for all its brilliance, deconstruction has not yet been able to fulfill the social or academic functions of the older, aesthetic-based disciplines that it set out to deconstruct.