We’d like to get more feedback and reviews from people who download the eBooks and StoryCubes on what they think of them (both the formats and the individual titles) –
what do you use them for (personal reading/set texts for students/research/inspiration/gifts etc)?
how would you review a particular eBook or StoryCube?
do you design your own eBooks using, or inspired, by our schematics?
would you like to create your own eBooks or StoryCubes using the new Diffusion Generator?
what kinds of eBooks/StoryCubes would you like to see us commissioning?
how can we make this site and the library better, easier to browse, more accessible?
Please feel free to reply using the Reviews/Comments section of this post or a specific eBook/StoryCube you want to comment on. Thanks.
Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism (1711), written when he was only 20, laid the foundations for many of the artistic and critical hierarchies that have remained constant since in the literary world.
The late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in London saw the growing mechanisation of print publishing, and a concurrent boom in both literary production and criticism. Equally, new sales and distribution models increasingly enabled writers to make a living independent of the aristocratic patronage that had been their commonest means of support in earlier times.
The glut of writing, and divorce of that writing from the values and aesthetics associated with the ruling classes, prompted a vigorous tussle for critical supremacy among those who believed themselves qualified to pronounce on literature. A widely influential – and hotly contested – intervention in this tussle, Pope’s Essay on Criticism seeks to antedate his creative activities in the Greek and Roman past, by replacing the overt eulogising of aristocratic values with an insistence on the primacy of the classical canon. Pope aims to draw from this composite ancient and modern canon a set of precepts from which his contemporary literature and criticism can be judged.
The age of the blogosphere has seen an equivalent explosion in writing, criticism and debate. While few now read Homer, Pope’s essay addresses questions of authority, quality and cultural legitimacy that, online, are as vigorously contested as ever.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is one of the most acclaimed English poets of the early eighteenth century. Amongst his well known works are The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad,Essay on Man and his translations of Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey.
Diffusion is brought to you by Proboscis, a non-profit organization. Support our work with a secure donation by credit card or Paypal:
You may prefer to support us by purchasing a pack of StoryCubes to make your own story landscapes with – for storytelling projects, workshops, education or evaluation activities.