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QUINN, Dennis. Iris Exiled: A Synoptic History of Wonder. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2002. xv+ 346 pp. Cloth, $67.00; paper, $45.00-Dennis Quinn resides in the Department of English at Kansas University, where innumerable alumni will attest that he is a master teacher. In this excellent book he also trades in the discipline of philosophy, which is fitting given that philosophy begins in wonder and Quinn's book so acutely wonders at wonder. The book divides into four parts in which the author unfolds Western attitudes about wonder and evaluates them in ten chapters. The fourth part is something of an epilogue, so the first three parts, consisting of nine chapters, comprise most of his historical excursus and commentary, which is richly detailed but accessible.
As a synopsis, the book argues for the primacy of wonder to order rightly and to keep healthy our epistemological powers, habits, and judgments. Sound philosophy, poetry, science, and even theology depend on an intelligent grasp of the nature of wonder. In the end, the book makes the judgment that modern culture's inadequate explanations of the methods and objects of knowledge imply a corresponding failure to appreciate wonder. Its neglect of wonder is both causal and symptomatic of other confusions about the nature, value, and limits of philosophy, poetry, science, and religion.
Because Quinn is a master teacher, he pays homage to what classroom experience has taught him about the subject of wonder. Many authors leave it implied that...