AgainstFinality:InauguralLecture,Delivered4thFebruary1993

Sincetheriseofscientificthinkingintheseventeenthcenturytheroleoftheimaginationinliteraturehasbeenamatterfordebate.Isitanessentialresource,asmaintainedbysomeRomanticwriters,oratreacherouspurveyorofillusions?InthislectureProfessorBeersuggeststhatoneresultofthisuncertaintyhasbeentosetupadivision(whichcontinuestopervadeliteraryenterprises)betweenimaginativeflightsontheonehandandthe'weighingofwords'ontheother.Hisexamplesaredrawnfromawiderangeofwriters,includingJohnsonandDickens,HopkinsandWoolf.ThelectureconcludeswithanexaminationoftwopoemsbyWordsworth,whoisseenashavingfacedtheseproblemsinanunusuallyintricateandsubtlemanner.