
The Sense of an Ending
Studies in the Theory of Fiction
Frank Kermode(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
2nd Edition
Published on 4. May 2000
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-19-513612-8 (ISBN)
Description
Frank Kermode is one of our most distinguished and beloved critics of English literature. Here, he contributes a new epilogue to his collection of classic lectures on the relationship of fiction to age-old concepts of apocalyptic chaos and crisis. Prompted by the approach of the millennium, he revisits the book which brings his highly concentrated insights to bear on some of the most unyielding philosophical and aesthetic enigmas. Examining the works of writers from Plato to William Burroughs, Kermode shows how they have persistently imposed their "fictions" upon the face of eternity and how these have reflected the apocalyptic spirit. Kermode then discusses literature at a time when new fictive explanations, as used by Spenser and Shakespeare, were being devised to fit a world of uncertain beginning and end. He goes on to deal perceptively with modern literature - with "traditionalists" such as Yeats, Eliot, and Joyce, as well as contemporary "schismatics," the French "new novelists," and such seminal figures as Jean-Paul Sartre and Samuel Beckett. Whether weighing the difference between modern and earlier modes of apocalyptic thought, considering the degeneration of fiction into myth, or commenting on the vogue of the Absurd, Kermode is distinctly lucid, persuasive, witty, and prodigal of ideas.
Reviews / Votes
"An impressively learned, eloquent, and brilliant defense of a non-schismatic view of human time."--Leo Bersani, The New York Times"A packed, original, highly stimulating book,"--David Lodge
"An impressively learned, eloquent, and brilliant defense of a non-schismatic view of human time."--Leo Bersani, The New York Times
"A packed, original, highly stimulating book,"--David Lodge
More details
Edition
2nd Revised edition
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Edition type
Revised edition
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
317 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-513612-8 (9780195136128)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2000
1st Edition
OUP USA
€15.49
Available for download

E-Book
04/2000
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€15.49
Available for download
Previous edition
Frank Kermode
The Sense of an Ending
Book
12/1968
Oxford University Press Inc
€9.89
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Frank Kermode was formerly King Edward VII Professor of English Literature, Cambridge University.
Author
King Edward VII Professor of English LiteratureKing Edward VII Professor of English Literature, Cambridge University (Emeritus)
Content
1. The End ; 2. Fictions ; 3. World without end or beginning ; 4. The modern apocalypse ; 5. Literary fiction and reality ; 6. Solitary confinement ; Epilogue: The Sense of an Ending, 1999 ; Notes