The Growth of Literature

A pioneering comparative study in three volumes, published 1932–1940, covering the development of world literature from Iceland to Polynesia.

H. Munro Chadwick (Author), Nora K. Chadwick (Author)

9781108016148, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2010

698 pages
21.6 x 14 x 3.6 cm, 0.8 kg

First published between 1932 and 1940, this is a three-volume study of the historical development of literature. It explores the oral and written literatures of regions from Iceland and the British Isles, to Russia, the Balkans, Africa, India and the Pacific, placing them in their historical context and examining similarities between them. The authors discuss both ancient and recent texts, illustrating the connections within each group and considering the question of whether all literary growth is influenced by common factors. Praised on publication as '… a work that is not, probably could not be, superseded' (International Journal of Comparative Sociology), the book remains a benchmark for those studying comparative literature or the history of literary criticism. Volume 1 analyses a range of medieval British and Icelandic poetry and sagas, drawing analogies with the literature of early Greece and focusing particularly on the concept of heroic literature.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. The heroic age
3. Heroic poetry and saga
4. The heroic milieu
5. Individualism in the heroic stories
6. Non-heroic stories relating to the heroic age
7. Historical elements in stories of the heroic age
8. Unhistorical elements in stories of the heroic age
9. Poetry and saga relating to deities
10. Antiquarian learning
11. Post-heroic poetry and saga
12. Gnomic poetry
13. Descriptive poetry
14. Poetry and saga relating to unspecified individuals
15. Mantic poetry
16. Literature and writing
17. The texts
18. Recitation and composition
19. The author
20. Inspiration
Excursus 1. Merlin in the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth
Excursus 2. The written epic
Addenda
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary theory [DSA]