ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the much-discussed question of whether or why literature and the humanities in general matter. The problem with arguments in favour of the humanities is typically that they are utterly compelling to those of us who already share their conclusions, but they have little prospect of persuading those who are sceptical. The chapter looks at three recent books which make a case for literary study: Robert Eaglestone's Literature: Why it Matters (2019), Terence Cave's Thinking with Literature: Towards a Cognitive Criticism (2016) and Rita Felski's Hooked: Art and Attachment (2020). These books come from different perspectives and have different purposes. They nevertheless have some points in common: they all grant a significant place to the role of empathy in an account of the value of literature, even if it is acknowledged to be a problematic concept; and they all give weight to the notion of literary agency whereby literature is regarded as an active participant in dialogue with its reader rather than merely an inert object of scrutiny. The chapter concludes by observing the emergence in some recent critical writing of what can be termed a ‘hermeneutics of trust’.
