{"title":"Joseph Epstein","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJoseph Epstein\u003c\/strong\u003e offers a thoughtful exploration of literature and the arts, inviting readers to consider the significance of storytelling in everyday life. His works, such as \u003cem\u003eThe Novel\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eWho Needs It?\u003c\/em\u003e, blend wit and insight to examine literary culture with both affection and critique.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect a collection rich in reflection and intellectual engagement, where Epstein's keen observations illuminate the enduring power and pleasures of reading, writing, and the artistic experience.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-novel-who-needs-it-by-joseph-epstein-9781641773058","title":"The Novel, Who Needs It?","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this brief but highly engaging book, Joseph Epstein argues for the primacy of fiction, and specifically of the novel, among all intellectual endeavours that seek to describe the behaviour of human beings. Reading superior fiction, he holds, arouses the mind in a way that nothing else quite does. He shows how the novel at its best operates above the level of ideas in favour of taking up the truths of the heart. No other form probes so deeply into that eternal mystery of mysteries, human nature, as the novel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlong the way, Epstein recounts how we read fiction differently from much else. He sets out how memory works differently in the reading of fiction compared to other works. He notes that certain novels are best read at certain ages, and suggests that novels, like movies, might do well to carry ratings, with some novels best read no later than one's early twenties, others not to be read before the age of forty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe knowledge one acquires from reading novels differs from all other kinds of knowledge, for the subject of all superior fiction is human existence itself, in all its variousness and often humbling confusion. The spirit of the novel entails questioning much that others consider home truths. This is demonstrated by the fact that so many important philosophers, social scientists, jurists, and other intellectuals have been devoted readers of fiction, among them Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Michael Oakeshott, Edward Shils, and Clifford Geertz.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Novel, Who Needs It?\u003c\/i\u003e takes up those current elements in the culture that militate against the production of first-rate fiction. Prominent among them are the rise of online reading, the expansion of creative writing programmes, the artistically discouraging effects of political correctness, and the pervasiveness of therapeutic thinking throughout contemporary culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs for the title, \u003ci\u003eThe Novel, Who Needs It?\u003c\/i\u003e, Joseph Epstein's answer is that we all do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47432996716780,"sku":"9781641773058","price":57.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781641773058.jpg?v=1774765867"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/joseph-epstein.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}