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Info page for book:   The Economy of Literature
Info page for book:   The Economy of Literature
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The Economy of Literature

Marc Shell

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Why did coinage, tyranny, and philosophy develop in the same time and place? Marc Shell explores how both money and language give "worth" by providing a medium of exchange, how the development of money led to a revolution in philosophical thought and language, and how words transform mere commodities into symbols at once aesthetic and practical. Offering carefully documented interpretations of texts from Heraclitus, Herodotus, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Ruskin, Shell demonstrates the kinship between literary and economic theory and production, introduces new methods of...

Why did coinage, tyranny, and philosophy develop in the same time and place? Marc Shell explores how both money and language give "worth" by providing a medium of exchange, how the development of money led to a revolution in philosophical thought and language, and how words transform mere commodities into symbols at once aesthetic and practical. Offering carefully documented interpretations of texts from Heraclitus, Herodotus, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Ruskin, Shell demonstrates the kinship between literary and economic theory and production, introduces new methods of analyzing texts, and shows how literary and philosophical fictions can help us understand the world in which we live.

Reviews

Reviews

Shell demonstrates that the economic thought of any historical period works in its literature far more problematically—and more profoundly—than a traditional description of economic influence can suggest.

A unique study of the relationship between literature and matters economic from Ancient Greece to our own times.

Stimulating and valuable.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
192
ISBN
9780801846946
Author Bio
Featured Contributor

Marc Shell

Marc Shell is professor of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author of The Economy of Literature and Money, Language, and Thought, also available from Johns Hopkins .