"Not an idle spectator": Geoffrey Hill as model reviewer
Geoffrey Hill’s prose has prompted longstanding critical controversy, much of which turns on the perceived difficulty, intransigence and anachronism of his oeuvre as a whole. This paper proposes that new ways to navigate this controversy can be found in Hill’s preoccupation with the exemplary dimens...
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| Format: | Article |
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Sage
2014
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35995/ |
| _version_ | 1848795204893540352 |
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| author | Vincent, Bridget |
| author_facet | Vincent, Bridget |
| author_sort | Vincent, Bridget |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Geoffrey Hill’s prose has prompted longstanding critical controversy, much of which turns on the perceived difficulty, intransigence and anachronism of his oeuvre as a whole. This paper proposes that new ways to navigate this controversy can be found in Hill’s preoccupation with the exemplary dimensions of writing – that is, in his interest in the poet’s capacity to offer examples (positive and negative) to a community of readers. The discussion pays particular attention to the connections Hill’s reviews establish between style and ethical choice and between literary difficulty and democracy; connections which are intertwined with his ethics of exemplarity in fundamental ways. The paper also engages with those dimensions of literary exemple-use which emerge in new or unusual ways in his prose: his presentation of ‘models’ or ideals for the organisation of civil society; his treatment of certain literary works as exemplars or embodiments of philosophical ideas; and his procedural tic of ‘sampling’ regularly for the purpose of chastisement the ‘bad example’ set by some of the works he criticises. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:28:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-35995 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:28:23Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Sage |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-359952020-05-04T16:46:36Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35995/ "Not an idle spectator": Geoffrey Hill as model reviewer Vincent, Bridget Geoffrey Hill’s prose has prompted longstanding critical controversy, much of which turns on the perceived difficulty, intransigence and anachronism of his oeuvre as a whole. This paper proposes that new ways to navigate this controversy can be found in Hill’s preoccupation with the exemplary dimensions of writing – that is, in his interest in the poet’s capacity to offer examples (positive and negative) to a community of readers. The discussion pays particular attention to the connections Hill’s reviews establish between style and ethical choice and between literary difficulty and democracy; connections which are intertwined with his ethics of exemplarity in fundamental ways. The paper also engages with those dimensions of literary exemple-use which emerge in new or unusual ways in his prose: his presentation of ‘models’ or ideals for the organisation of civil society; his treatment of certain literary works as exemplars or embodiments of philosophical ideas; and his procedural tic of ‘sampling’ regularly for the purpose of chastisement the ‘bad example’ set by some of the works he criticises. Sage 2014-04-16 Article PeerReviewed Vincent, Bridget (2014) "Not an idle spectator": Geoffrey Hill as model reviewer. Diogenes, 60 (1). pp. 86-96. ISSN 1467-7695 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0392192113520095 doi:10.1177/0392192113520095 doi:10.1177/0392192113520095 |
| spellingShingle | Vincent, Bridget "Not an idle spectator": Geoffrey Hill as model reviewer |
| title | "Not an idle spectator": Geoffrey Hill as model reviewer |
| title_full | "Not an idle spectator": Geoffrey Hill as model reviewer |
| title_fullStr | "Not an idle spectator": Geoffrey Hill as model reviewer |
| title_full_unstemmed | "Not an idle spectator": Geoffrey Hill as model reviewer |
| title_short | "Not an idle spectator": Geoffrey Hill as model reviewer |
| title_sort | "not an idle spectator": geoffrey hill as model reviewer |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35995/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35995/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35995/ |