The problem of literary value

<p>This book addresses the vexed status of literary value. Unlike other approaches it pursues neither an apologetic thesis about literature's defining values nor conversely a demystifying account of those values' ideological uses. Instead arguing that the category of literary value is inescapable it focuses pragmatically on everyday scholarly and pedagogical activities proposing how we may reconcile that category's inevitability with our understandable wariness of its uncertainties and complicities. Toward these ends it offers a preliminary theory of literary valuing and explores the problem of literary value in respect to the literary edition canonicity and interpretation. Much of this exploration occurs within Chaucer studies which because of Chaucer's simultaneous canonicity and marginality provides fertile ground for thinking through the problem's challenges. Using this subfield as a synecdoche the book seeks to forge a viable rationale for literary studies generally.<br><br>An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.</p>