Ethics, Literature, and Theory

Stephen K. George is professor of English at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

• Part 1 ForewordPart 2 PrefacePart 3 Ethical Criticism and Literary TheoryChapter 4 Premises on Art and MoralityChapter 5 The Moral Connections of Literary TextsChapter 6 Why Ethical Criticism Can Never Be SimpleChapter 7 Ethical Criticism: What It Is and Why It MattersChapter 8 Against Ethical CriticismChapter 9 Who Is Responsible in Ethical Criticism?Chapter 10 The Absence of the Ethical: Literary Theory and Ethical TheoryChapter 11 Evaluative Discourse: A New Turn Towards the EthicalChapter 12 The Moral and the Aesthetical: Literary Study and the Social OrderPart 13 Philosophy Religion, and LiteratureChapter 14 Reading for LifeChapter 15 The "Ancient Quarrel": Literature and Moral PhilosophyChapter 16 Stories and MoralsChapter 17 The Absence of Stories: Filling the Void in EthicsChapter 18 Literature and the Catholic PerspectiveChapter 19 Literature and ProtestantismChapter 20 Something to Measure By: Quaker Values in LiteratureChapter 21 Literary Criticism and Religious ValuesPart 22 Writers' ResponsibilitiesChapter 23 A Writer's DutyChapter 24 The Writer's Moral SenseChapter 25 Imaginative Writing and the Jewish ExperienceChapter 26 The Problem of Evil in FictionChapter 27 Poetry, Politics, and MoralityChapter 28 Art and Ethics?Chapter 29 What Violence in Literature Must Teach UsChapter 30 Ethics and LiteraturePart 31 Readers and Ethical CriticismChapter 32 The Case Against Huck FinnChapter 33 Why We Still Need Huckleberry FinnChapter 34 Huckleberry Finn: An Amazing Troubling BookChapter 35 The Ethical Dimensions of Richard Wright's Native SonChapter 36 Sethe's Choice: Beloved and the Ethics of ReadingChapter 37 Steinbeck, Johnson, and the Master/Slave RelationshipChapter 38 Censorship and the Classroom

Since the time of Plato, our culture has debated whether literature can fairly be judged by ethical standards or whether it is essentially beyond the realm of ethics. This unique collection, which brings together many eloquent voices on opposing sides of the question, offers a wonderful way to gain perspective on the great debate and to introduce it to students.