Literature and Understanding

"All too often the philosophy of literature locates itself at one remove from its object of study. With a great lightness of touch, Jon Phelan takes his philosophical reflections into the heart of literature. In doing so, he provides illuminating discussions on the nature of literature and of the understanding before giving a comprehensive account of the relation between the two. This book is much to be recommended not only to philosophers, but also to literary scholars and those with a general interest in the humanities."

Derek Matravers, Professor of Philosophy, The Open University

"Phelan demonstrates a familiarity with the work of many philosophers and literary theorists as well as with an impressive body of imaginative literature that includes poetry and drama, as well as fiction. [Phelan's] navigation of so many literary and philosophical texts makes the book both illuminating and enjoyable. His commitment to the fertility and resonance of literary texts from Shakespeare to Lionel Shriver is striking [...] One of the joys of the volume is Phelan's analysis of multiple literary texts, where he lies down ‘in the word hoard’. He delights in drilling into the passages that he chooses and interrogates them with erudition and nuance. [...] [Ultimately] the book is very engaging and contains numerous exciting close readings by the author."

Dr Kevin Williams is Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Evaluation, Quality and Inspection, School of Education, Dublin City University and also Research Fellow at the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies, Ireland.