Fields of Vision: Essays on Literature, Language and Television

by D. J. Enright (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1990

  $4.12

  D.J.Enright's highly personal book surveys TV's treatment of the classics, the pains and pleasures of soap opera - Coronation Street and Eastenders - AIDS programmes and condom advertising, chat shows and commercials. He muses on the notion of realism in the arts, the tendency of television to be self-referring, and its role as George confronting the dragon of AIDS. Unconvinced that a medium so ubiquitous and unrelenting can have no effect on its audience, he raises the hazardous, yet endlessly fascinating question of TV's influence on our attitudes and actions. As a contrast to the small screen's meagre involvement of the imagination, the second part of the book turns to other, more demanding media. In particular D.J. Enright looks at the work of Grass, Kraus, Singer, Milosz, and Robertson Davies: writers who are not afraid to employ fantasy in their exploration of reality, and who depict worlds still inhabited by wonder, and the fear, dread, splendour and freedom of wonder.