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Boredom : the literary history of a state of mind

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  • "As malady or inspiration, boredom looms large in our culture. Forever egging the writer on to new feats of interest, new forms of poetry, new, more engrossing ideas and creations, boredom both haunts and motivates the literary imagination. This book offers a witty literary explanation of why this should be. Investigating boredom's imaginative functions during the last two and a half centuries, Patricia Meyer Spacks reveals the shifting cultural purposes served by this often lamented state. The figure of the "bore" entered the language in the eighteenth century, marking, Spacks suggests, a significant cultural shift. Until then boredom, though not explicitly classified as a sin, was to be strenuously resisted by spiritual endeavor. With the coming of the "bore," however, the responsibility for boredom shifted from the bored observer to whatever failed to hold his or her interest. Progress should banish boredom by making life more stimulating."

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  • "Criticism, interpretation, etc"
  • "Criticism, interpretation, etc"@en
  • "History"
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  • "Boredom : the literary history of a state of mind"
  • "Boredom : the literary history of a state of mind"@en

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