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E312: British Literature since 1760 Walter Pater Study Questions Alfred J. Drake. Office: 424 University Hall Extra-Credit Journal Instructions: Respond at appropriate length to 4 study questions. "Preface" to The Renaissance 1. What similarities and differences do you find between Pater's statements about the "the aim of true criticism" (1638) and Arnold's objectivist remarks about "the critic's task" in "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time"? 2. What must the critic do first, before he or she can hope to achieve the "aim of true criticism"? What is the aesthetic critic's responsibility to the work of art and to the audience? 3. How does Pater describe the 15th.-century Italian Renaissance towards the end of the "Preface"? To what extent do his remarks resemble Matthew Arnold's ideas concerning artists and the societies within which they create? (See "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time.") "La Gioconda" passage from the chapter "Leonardo da Vinci" in The Renaissance (not required reading) 1. To what extent does Pater, in describing Leonardo's famous portrait of Mona Lisa ("La Gioconda"), achieve "the aim of true criticism" that he sets forth in his "Preface"? Is Pater "seeing the object as in itself it really is" or is he rather, to borrow Wilde's witticism about Pater and Arnold, "seeing the object as in itself it really is not"? Explain. "Conclusion" to The Renaissance 1. How does Pater describe the "tendency of modern thought" in the first few pages of his "Conclusion"? What examples does he provide of this tendency, and how does he enlist the language of scientific objectivity and discovery in his description? 2. How does Pater define "success in life" on pages 1633-34? Again, how does he employ the language of science to make his case? 3. What sort of audience do you think might find Pater's aesthetic program appealing and viable? How might it be said that Pater's program amounts to another Victorian withdrawal from the "romantic project" as we have discussed it in our sessions on the romantics? 4. Do you find Pater's final statements about art's place in the hierarchy of pleasure convincing in light of the previous remarks he has made about pleasure in his "Conclusion"? Why might his "Conclusion" have been considered misleading or morally suspect by some Victorian readers? 5. To what extent does the tone of the "Conclusion" to The Renaissance suit the statements about aesthetic criticism Pater makes in his "Preface"? Explain.
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