Power to Hurt: The Virtues of Alienation

William Monroe

addresses what William J. Bennett ignores in The Book of Virtues:

How do readers use literature as equipment for living ?

Tackling modernism

and postmodernism, Monroe outlines virtue criticism, an alternative

to current theory. Focusing on works by T. S. Eliot, Vladimir Nabokov,

and Donald Barthelme, he demonstrates that these alienistic texts are

not just filled with belligerence but are also endowed with virtues, such

as trust and the promise of solidarity with the reader. By considering

these vital texts as responses to personal situations and institutional

practices, Monroe brings literature back to the common reader and shows

how it offers functional responses to the dysfunctional situations of

modern life.

Readers interested

in literary criticism, American culture, and the relationship between

ethics and literature will be fascinated by virtue criticism and this

fresh look at the virtues and vices of alienation.

Chosen as a Choice Magazine’s Outstanding Academic Book for 1999.