Wayne Clayson Booth American literary critic Date of Birth: 22.02.1921 Country: USA

Content:

1. Wayne Booth: A Literary Critic of Note
2. Academic Career
3. Literary Criticism
4. Later Works
5. Legacy

Wayne Booth: A Literary Critic of Note

Early Life and Education

Wayne Booth was born in American Fork, Utah. He earned his degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Chicago.

Academic Career

Booth taught at Haverford College and Earlham College before returning to the University of Chicago. There, he became a distinguished service professor of English language and literature on the M. Pullman Foundation.

Literary Criticism

Booth's work is primarily in the tradition of the Chicago School of literary criticism. His seminal work, "The Rhetoric of Fiction," argues that all fiction is a form of rhetoric. It asserts that the author's "commitments, overt or covert" shape the reader's response to the work. Booth believed that the narrator, or the implied author, is the author's "second self" who "selects, consciously or unconsciously, what we read..."

Later Works

In "Modern Dogma and the Rhetoric of Assent," Booth explored the conditions that lead people to change their minds. "The Rhetoric of Irony" examined the concept of irony and its use in literature.

Booth returned to the subject of rhetorical impact in fiction in "The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction," advocating for "an ethic of encounter" and shifting ethics to the forefront of literary studies.

Legacy

Wayne Booth's contributions to literary criticism have had a profound impact on the field. His insights into the rhetorical nature of fiction, the role of authority, and the ethical dimensions of literature continue to shape contemporary literary discourse.

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