"Iser is an influential figure, and aficionados will welcome the comprehensive exposition he provides here."--Terence Cave, TLS The pioneer of "literary anthropology," Wolfgang Iser presents a wide-ranging and comprehensive exploration of this new field in an attempt to explain the human need for the "particular form of make-believe" known as literature. Ranging from the Renaissance pastoral to Coleridge to Sartre and Beckett, The Fictive and the Imaginary is a distinguished work of scholarship from one of Europe's most respected and influential critics. "A new book by Wolfgang Iser is an important event in the critical world. This one, with its wide-ranging and ambitious argument, will require the attention of everyone who thinks seriously and at all philosophically about literary culture and what it has to tell us about being human."--Ross Chambers, University of Michigan.

A new book by Wolfgang Iser is an important event in the critical world. This one, with its wide-ranging and ambitious argument, will require the attention of everyone who thinks seriously and at all philosophically about literary culture and what it has to tell us about being human. -- Ross Chambers, University of Michigan

About the Author

Wolfgang Iser, who has taught at leading universities in the United States and Europe, is currently professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Constance.

Reviews
Superb in its analysis of many scholarly sources. -- Carole J. Lambert Southern Humanities Review Iser is an influential figure, and aficionados will welcome the comprehensive exposition he provides here. -- Terence Cave Times Literary Supplement



Book Information
ISBN 9780801844997
Author Wolfgang Iser
Format Paperback
Page Count 380
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 510g