Biography of "the Idea of Literature"

Adrian Marino is a scholar in Romania who has written books on literary hermeneutics, comparative literature, the history of literary criticism, and critical terminology. His work has been translated into French, Italian, German, Japanese, and English. Marino's most recent book, published in Italy, is a study of literary theory, Teoria della letteratura.

• AcknowledgmentsPrefaceI. Antiquity First Definitions Written LiteratureOral LiteratureSacred LiteratureProfane Literature Literary Culture Grammar and CultureVocation for TotalityThe BookThe LibraryThe Beginning of BibliographyThe Encyclopedia"Liberal Art""Human Letters""Good Letters" The Coordinates of Culture New Versus Old LettersNational Versus Universal Letters The Beginning of Estheticizing "Beautiful Letters"Literary Versus Poetic SpecificityAutonomy and HeteronomyHierarchy in Literature The School of Literature Letters "Spawn" LiteratureCritical Literature Denying Literature Conclusions II. The Middle Ages Sacred Letters Profane Letters Written LiteratureOral Literature The Culture of Letters Grammar and CultureThe Totality of LettersThe BookThe LibraryThe BibliographyThe Encyclopedia Diversification of Profane Letters "Liberal Letters""Human Letters""Good Letters" The Coordinates of Letters New Versus Old LettersNational Versus Universal LettersPopular Letters Estheticizing Letters "Beautiful Letters"Literature and PoetryPoetic LiteratureLiterariness: Sacred Versus ProfaneThe Beginning of Autonomy The Heteronomy of Letters Hierarchy in Literature The School of Literature The Study of LiteratureLiterary CompositionLiterature on LiteratureCritical Literature Denying Literature Conclusions III. The Renaissance and Humanism Letters Are Humanized and Spiritualized "Human Letters""Liberal Letters""Good Letters" Profane Letters Written LiteratureOral Literature Sacred Letters The Culture of Letters Grammar and CultureThe Totality of LiteratureEncyclopedic KnowledgeLetters and PrintThe Book of LiteratureThe Literature LibraryThe Beginning of Bibliography The Coordinates of Letters New Versus Old LettersNational Versus Universal LettersPopular Letters Estheticizing Letters "Beautiful Letters"Beautiful LiteratureLiterature or Poetry?Literary ArtLiterary Versus Poetic SpecificityThe Autonomy of Literature: Progress The Heteronomy of Literature "The Republic of Letters"SocietyEconomyIdeology Hierarchy in Literature The School of Literature The Study of LiteratureLiterature with LiteratureLiterature on LiteratureCritical Literature Denying Literature Conclusions IV. Classicism and the Baroque Traditional Definitions Grammar and CultureWritten LiteratureOral LiteratureSacred LiteratureProfane Literature Organizing Letters The Totality of LettersThe BookThe LibraryThe BibliographyThe Encyclopedia The Classicization of Traditional Definitions "Human Letters""Liberal Letters""Good Letters" The Coordinates of Letters Ancient Versus Modem LettersNational Versus World LiteraturePopular Letters Estheticizing Letters "Beautiful Letters"Beautiful LiteratureLiterature or Poetry?Poetic LiteratureLiterary ArtLiterary Versus Poetic SpecificityThe Autonomy of Literature The Heteronomy of Literature "The Republic of Letters"SocietyEconomyIdeology Hierarchy in Literature The School of Literature Literature with LiteratureLiterature on LiteratureCritical Literature Denying Literature Conclusions Notes Name Index Thematic Index

"This book documents the slowness of institutionalization, particularly of literature. It describes the chaotic and gradual growth of the concept of literature. Without having any axe to grind, it neatly deconstructs (or, at least pokes holes into) any kind of purely rationalist/voluntarist view of invention so prevalent nowdays." — Virgil Nemoianu, Catholic University of America"Contrary to the widespread belief that the idea of literature in our modern sense emerged in the eighteenth century, Marino convincingly demonstrates that it goes back to ancient times. He makes the interesting point that much of what we identify as literature belonged, in antiquity and in the medieval period, to the domain of orality. Marino does an outstanding job covering the least known stages in the history of the concept of literature, from Greco-Roman antiquity through the Renaissance and Neo-Classical to the age of the Baroque." — Matei Calinescu, Indiana University