this book is phenomenal. i may buy all the copies and hand them out to every English department in the country. as a present.
i'll try to review once i finish it...
UPDATE: Ana said I was giggling like a schoolboy this morning on the subway, when I read the first chapter. Scarry's basic argument, at least as of now, three chapters into it, is that writers use specific techniques to help lend reality to their fictional situations. She's explaining these techniques, using a wide variety of literary texts, and tying it to the philosophy and psychology of cognition.
it's incredibly learned and compelling, and slightly trippy.