{"product_id":"9780571281220","title":"The Common Pursuit","description":"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eF. R. Leavis was the chief editor of \u003ci\u003eScrutiny\u003c\/i\u003e, which between 1932 and 1953 had some claim on being the most influential literary journal in the English-speaking world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Common Pursuit\u003c\/b\u003e is a selection of Leavis's essays from \u003ci\u003eScrutiny\u003c\/i\u003e, including his robust defence of Milton against T. S. Eliot, his deeply-felt engagement with Shakespeare, and his severe strictures on attempts to import sociology and political activism into the study of literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe title of the book comes from a passage in Eliot's 'The Function of Criticism', in which the poet argues that the critic must engage in 'the common pursuit of true judgment'. For Leavis, this meant a strenuous insistence on discriminatory criticism - clear statements about what is good and morally mature and admirable, and equally clear condemnation of what is trivial. \u003cb\u003eThe Common Pursuit\u003c\/b\u003e, with its controversial judgments of Bunyan and Auden, Swift and Forster, remains as challenging now as it did in 1952, and it is easy to see why Leavis - who was never offered a professorship by Cambridge University - held such sway over the study of English literature in his time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Faber and Faber","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47173114298608,"sku":"9780571281220","price":15.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780571281220_p0.jpg?v=1769896977","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780571281220","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}