Review Of "Styles Of Seriousness" By S. Connor

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

6-1-2024

Published In

Choice

Abstract

Connor (emer., English, Univ. of Cambridge) notes that the number of books whose title tells one to take something seriously is nearly endless: one is urged to take African cartoons and Sudoku seriously, as well as laughter and Type 2 diabetes. But just what is it to take something seriously? Connor does not provide a grand theory, but he does discuss at length—and with wit and insight—various styles of taking something seriously. A necessary but far from sufficient condition of taking something seriously is to devote concentrated attention to it. But there is so much more. One semantic field is to employ serious intent to tell the truth about one’s subject; another semantic field concerns one’s feeling or demeanor associated with the former. This leads Connor to discuss six styles of taking something seriously: intent, importance, solemnity, zeal, rue, and monition. His discussion of each is illuminating. Perhaps most interesting, to this reader, is what Connor means by rue and monition. To rue is to feel regret or remorse, to have those feelings flood one's attention. If rue refers to forms of retrospective seriousness, monition refers to prospective warnings of what to take seriously. One can learn much from this eminent scholar as he mines literature to uncover styles of seriousness. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

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