The Classic: Literary Images of Permanence and Change
Kermode is one of the rare critics and scholars it is in any case uncommon to he both who offer a new and unusual insight on whatever author or topic they turn to. (New Statesman)Kermodehas one of the finest minds in contemporary criticism, and there is nothing that he touches that he does not in some unexpected way to use some of his own termstranslate, renovate, eternalize. (Commonweals)Taking as his central concept 'the classic,' the literary work we speak of as enduring, Kermode asks how a text can retain its identity as its time-hound readers change . . .The Classicis an enormously suggestive book . elegant and accessible. (Yale Review)The subtitle ... modestly describes the tensions that generate the remarkable energy of this highly original study. The old conception of classic, Kermode argues, is tied to Virgilian attitudes of empire and eternity; the modern use of the term embraces change, plurality and secularization.The Classicbrilliantly mediates between the two views of literature and culture . . . This closely argued and clearly articulated essay . .rests on formidable learning. (The New Republic)