"THE PLEASURES OF LITERATURE"

JOHN COWPER POWYS

       INTRODUCTION



        MAGICIANS have  never been able
 to control their angels or their demons
 until they discovered their names
 The origin of all literature lies here. 
 A word  is a magic incantation by which
 the self  exercises power --first over
 itself and then over other selves
 and then , for all we know over the
 powers of nature.
     

          After commanding and creating life , the next thing that 
words have to do is to criticize it. Many attempts have
been made to codify , to catalogue, to differentiate the
various forms taken by the vast mass of literature now 
accessible through our recent progress in printing and
 publication. We hear of the literature of knowledge and the literature of power ;
we hear of the literature of inter-pretation and the literature of escape ; but when the whole 
thing is reduced to its essence it is hard to see how matthew arnold's
dictum that good literature of any kind must be a criticism of life can be improved upon....(to be continued.....).......by JOHN COWPER POWYS.......


dedicated to " A WORLD WITHOUT THE TECHNOLOGY 
 WE KNOW TODAY(1938)"