RememberedWordsisaselectionofAlastairFowler’sessaysongenre,realism,andtheemblem(threeinterrelatedsubjects),publishedoversixdecades.Itoffersreadersawaytoarriveatasenseofhowapproachestothesesubjectshavechangedoverthatperiod.Specifically,itshowshowgenrehascometobeunderstoodintermsoffamilyresemblancetheory.RememberedWordsarguesthatrealismcanbeseenasalteringhistorically,sothatRenaissancerealism,forexample,differsfromthoseoflaterperiods.Similarchangesaretracedintheemblem,whichFowlershowstobenotonlyaparticulargenre,butanelementofvariouskindsofrealism.FamouspassagesinancientliteraturearerememberedinthefamiliaremblemsoftheRenaissance;andRenaissanceemblemsformthebasisofmetaphorsinlaterliterature.Meanwhile,thegeneralapproachofthecriticandthereaderhasbeenalteringovertheyears--asbecomesevidentwhenonetakesintoaccountthetime-scaleofsixtyyears(anunusuallylongworkinglifeforacritic).Moderntheoreticalapproaches--whichareoftencasuallyregardedasself-evident--mayappearlessinevitableandmorearbitrary.Thisisnottosaythattheyarenecessarilywrong,justthattheyneedtobearguedfor.RememberedWordsisintendedforseniorundergraduatesandforgraduatestudents,whomayuseittoformideasofFowler’sapproachandthatofhiscontemporariesandpredecessorsoverthelasthalfcentury.
