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Dark Mirror : The Sense of Injustice in Modern European and American Literature / Richard C. Sterne.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Fordham University Press, [2022]Copyright date: ©1993Description: 1 online resource (280 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780823215102
  • 9780823295364
Subject(s): Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Idealistic vs. Realistic Conceptions of Justice from Homer to George Eliot -- 2. The Sense of Injustice in Modern Religious Fiction -- 3. The Sense of Injustice in Modern Social Fiction -- 4. The Sense of Injustice in Modern Absurdist Fiction -- 5. A "Dissenting" Perspective -- Conclusion: Toward a Renewal of the Dialogue -- List of Works Cited -- Index
Summary: Focusing on European and American trial fiction since about 1880, Dark Mirror argues that although it is generally animated by a sense of injustice, this literature reflects the virtual collapse in Western culture of the idea of a universal, or "natural," ethical law. From the ancient Greeks to the Victorians, that idea, though powerfully contested by the notion that justice was simply "the interest of the stronger," remained vigorously alive in books as in people’s minds. It thus constituted an alternative to injustice which modern literature, whether its angle is religious, social, or absurdist, rarely presents. Sterne presents the argument that the tradition of natural law can be adapted to the present condition, a hypothesis that necessitates a view of an international community in which distributive as well as punitive justice is done. Creators of literature, who have so persuasively dramatized the corruptions, cruelties, and absurdities of our time, would then eb called upon to increasingly choose to imagine "just" ways for us to emerge from chaos. Dark Mirror is the first study that combines, comprehensively, the treatment of the historical conflict between idealistic (natural law) and "realistic" or cynical approaches to the idea of justice.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780823295364

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Idealistic vs. Realistic Conceptions of Justice from Homer to George Eliot -- 2. The Sense of Injustice in Modern Religious Fiction -- 3. The Sense of Injustice in Modern Social Fiction -- 4. The Sense of Injustice in Modern Absurdist Fiction -- 5. A "Dissenting" Perspective -- Conclusion: Toward a Renewal of the Dialogue -- List of Works Cited -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Focusing on European and American trial fiction since about 1880, Dark Mirror argues that although it is generally animated by a sense of injustice, this literature reflects the virtual collapse in Western culture of the idea of a universal, or "natural," ethical law. From the ancient Greeks to the Victorians, that idea, though powerfully contested by the notion that justice was simply "the interest of the stronger," remained vigorously alive in books as in people’s minds. It thus constituted an alternative to injustice which modern literature, whether its angle is religious, social, or absurdist, rarely presents. Sterne presents the argument that the tradition of natural law can be adapted to the present condition, a hypothesis that necessitates a view of an international community in which distributive as well as punitive justice is done. Creators of literature, who have so persuasively dramatized the corruptions, cruelties, and absurdities of our time, would then eb called upon to increasingly choose to imagine "just" ways for us to emerge from chaos. Dark Mirror is the first study that combines, comprehensively, the treatment of the historical conflict between idealistic (natural law) and "realistic" or cynical approaches to the idea of justice.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 03. Jan 2023)