The Liberal Imagination
work by Trilling
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place in literary criticism
- In American literature: Literary and social criticism
Freudian, Lionel Trilling, in The Liberal Imagination (1950) and other works, rejected Vernon L. Parrington’s populist concept of literature as social reportage and insisted on the ability of literature to explore problematic human complexity. His criticism reflected the inward turn from politics toward “moral realism” that coincided with the…
Read More - In literary criticism: Functions
Trilling’s influential The Liberal Imagination (1950) is simultaneously a collection of literary essays and an attempt to reconcile the claims of politics and art.
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