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James Boyd White invites readers to join him in a close and engaged encounter with St. Augustine¿s Confessions. He offers an accessible guide to reading the text in Latin¿even for those who have never studied the language¿guiding readers to experience the immediacy, urgency, and vitality of Augustine¿s writing.
About the author
James Boyd White is the L. Hart Wright Professor of Law Emeritus and professor of English emeritus at the University of Michigan and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His many books include The Legal Imagination: Studies in the Nature of Legal Thought and Expression (1973) and, most recently, Keep Law Alive (2019). He is considered the founder of the law and literature movement.
Summary
James Boyd White invites readers to join him in a close and engaged encounter with St. Augustine’s Confessions. He offers an accessible guide to reading the text in Latin—even for those who have never studied the language—guiding readers to experience the immediacy, urgency, and vitality of Augustine’s writing.
Additional text
Let in the Light offers a better way to read a work of literature of enormous and enduring importance. White argues that our easy familiarity with the English language and the inevitable distance and distortions associated with any translation create a barrier between Augustine and his readers. He is a lively, clear, and engaging writer, and the book is extremely sophisticated about literary criticism but wears its sophistication lightly.
