| BRYANT DISCUSSES the limits
of Lessing's approach to the arts, first by critiquing his use of Homer
(who does not often use description in the way that Lessing reports), then
by critiquing Lessing's psychology of visionówhich he finds to be inferior
to that of William James, as articulated in Principles of Psychology
(1890). Bryant widens the notion of "image" to include tactile, motile,
auditory, and olfactory sensations.
Bryant engages this rethinking of the psychology of perception in order to make his claims that descriptive writing is the master form of discourse, surpassing all its rivals (exposition, narration, and argumentation). Further, an emphasis on description in writing effaces many of the distinctions between scientific and artistic discourse. (David Beard.) |
Michael Hancher Department of English, University of Minnesota URL: <http://umn.edu/home/mh/txtimdb6.html> Comments to: mh@umn.edu Created 24 December 1997