Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-287) and index.
In defense of sentimentality -- Sympathy and vengeance : the role of feelings in justice -- Care and compassion : moral sentiment theory revisited -- On grief and gratitude -- Real horror -- Comic relief : in appreciation of the seven deadly sins -- Spirituality as sentimentality -- The virtue of (erotic) love -- Reasons for love -- A lover's reply (to Roland Barthes's A lover's discourse) -- On kitsch and sentimentality.
0
This defence of the emotions and sentimentality against the background of what is perceived as a long history of abuse in social thought and literary criticism argues that our emotions are the essence of a well-lived life. They can be virtues, features of the human condition without which civilized life would be unimaginable.