Denis Donoghue (1928–2021)
Author of The Practice of Reading
About the Author
Denis Donoghue is University Professor and Henry James Professor of English and American Letters at New York University.
Image credit: New York University
Works by Denis Donoghue
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1928
- Date of death
- 2021-04-06
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Ireland
- Birthplace
- Tullow, County Carlow, Ireland
- Places of residence
- Dublin, Ireland
New York, New York, USA
Warrenpoint, County Down, Ireland - Education
- University College Dublin
Royal Irish Academy of Music
University of Cambridge (PhD) - Occupations
- literary critic
professor - Relationships
- Donoghue, Emma (daughter)
- Organizations
- New York University
- Awards and honors
- BBC Reith Lecturer (1982)
Members
Reviews
The Practice of Reading by Professor Denis Donoghue
This collection provides useful insights into the nature of reading. In doing so some great works of literature are discussed including McCarthy's Blood Meridian, Ulysses, Gulliver's Travels, and Othello. The criticism provides both a defense of and a model of excellent literary criticism.
A beautiful evocation of the essence of an aspect of literature that contributes to the possibility of transcendence. Through thoughtful examples Donoghue provides the reader with a fundamental sense of what great writers can create on the pages of the best literature.
A stunning book. And I had no particular interest in Walter Pater, and still don’t, frankly. But Donoghue’s brilliant prose and his analysis of the significance of Pater in the development of Modernism kept me turning the pages. Exemplary use of close textual reading. A fine illustration of the difference between literary criticism and a letter to the editor about political ideologies we disagree with.
2 
booksaplenty1949 | 1 other review | Jun 20, 2021 |
booksaplenty1949 | 1 other review | Jun 20, 2021 | A dense, almost unreadable, academic biography (the author was a literature professor at NYU) of one of the 19th century's famous aesthetes--the progenitor of "art for arts sake"--but worth the read for a deeper understanding of what much of our contemporary sense of beauty stands on. However, he also understands the great pitfall of where art is today. He writes: "... disastrous has been the subjection of literature and art to the censorship of blatantly reductive attention in behalf of political, social, and moral rectitude."… (more)
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 33
- Also by
- 13
- Members
- 818
- Popularity
- #31,176
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 5
- ISBNs
- 80
