Research Article

Novels in the Everyday: An Aesthetic Investigation

Authors:

Abstract

Everyday aestheticians have had relatively little to say about literature. Inspired by Peter Kivy’s philosophy of literature as laid out in his books The Performance of Reading and Once-Told Tales, I examine reading literature as a part of everyday life. I argue that not only do Kivy’s views help explain the value that avid readers place on their daily silent engagement with a book, but that his philosophy of literature also shows how literary works can have an aesthetic presence in our everyday lives even during periods in-between reading a book. In light of the paper, literary reading turns out to be an artistic routine that fills avid readers’ everyday lives in a very literal sense.
  • Year: 2019
  • Volume: 56 Issue: 2
  • Page/Article: 206-222
  • DOI: 10.33134/eeja.189
  • Published on 1 Sep 2019
  • Peer Reviewed