The Great Tradition by F. R. Leavis

'The great English novelists are Jane Austen, George Eliot, Henry James and Joseph Conrad.' So begins F. R. Leavis's most controversial book, The Great Tradition, an uncompromising critical-polemical survey of English fiction, first published in 1948. Leavis makes his case for moral seriousness as the necessary criterion for an author's inclusion in any list of the finest novelists. In the course of his argument he adds D. H. Lawrence to the pantheon, and singles out Hard Times as Dickens' one 'completely serious work of art'; while Lawrence Sterne, Henry Fielding, and James Joyce are among those weighed in the balance and found wanting. '[Leavis] gave one a new idea of what it meant to read... the whole business of criticism acquired a new and exhilarating quality.' Frank Kermode, London Review of Books

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The 1152nd greatest nonfiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - The 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time (The Guardian)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
The Great Tradition Paperback 12873610 $24.99 2012
The Great Tradition Hardcover 12484422 $8.20
The Great Tradition Paperback 16639398 $28.44 $28.38 2011
The Great Tradition Paperback 8658091 $14.21 $21.87 2018
The great tradition;: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad Paperback 18654703 $859.83
The Great Tradition: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad (Penguin Literary Criticism) Paperback 4294049 $3.43 1993
The Great Tradition Paperback 903033 $14.10 $13.98 2015
The Great Tradition: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad (Faber Finds) Paperback 2613541 $18.65 $5.72 2011
The Great Tradition Paperback 5097562 $30.41 $2.00
The Great Tradition Hardcover 6864584 $45.29
The Great Tradition: George Eliot - Henry James - Joseph Conrad Hardcover 5742640 $6.00
The Great Tradition: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad Paperback 11626748 $7.76
The Great Tradition Paperback 16718275 $7.00
The Great Tradition: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad Paperback 19241343 $42.77 $37.75
The Great Tradition (Pelican S.) Paperback 2197627 $62.86 $3.70 1974
The Great Tradition George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad Hardcover 15101678 $17.47
The Great Tradition Hardcover 2218724 $202.85 $30.00
Great Tradition (Peregrine Books) Paperback 6346737 $181.62 $9.39 1984
The Great Tradition: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad (Faber Finds) Kindle Edition 671424 $11.18 2011