In addition to the main traditions in Medieval Latin and Byzantine Greek, this comprehensive introduction to the literary theory and criticism produced during the Middle Ages covers all major European vernaculars, ranging from Irish to Old Norse, from Occitan to Middle High German and Italian. Special attention is given to the contribution of Dante Alighieri and his commentators, along with the debates on the relative merits of Latin and the Italian vernacular, and the literary attitudes of the early humanists.

Volume 1 of The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism focuses on criticism in the Classical period up to about A.D. 325. This first survey examines the beginnings of critical consciousness in Greece, including the functions of poetry and the role of poets in early Greek society, and continues with authoritative discussion of the critical writings of Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle and Hellenistic scholars. It examines Roman figures including Horace, Cicero, Quintilian and Tacitus, and also considers Greek critics of the Augustan and imperial periods such as Longinus, and the neo-platonic,...

This volume provides the first comprehensive treatment of the issues that helped shape the way writers thought about literature from the late Middle Ages to the late seventeenth century. These issues touched almost every facet of Western intellectual endeavor, as well as the historical, cultural, social, scientific, and technological contexts in which that activity evolved. The sixty-one chapters by a team of internationally respected scholars are supported by specialized bibliographies for guidance in further studies of the individual topics.

This is the most comprehensive account to date of the history of literary criticism in Britain and Europe between 1660 and 1800. Unlike previous histories, it is not just a chronological survey, but a multi-disciplinary study of how the understanding of literature in the modern era was shaped by developments in intellectual, cultural and social history. It provides an authoritative historical overview in all areas of literary studies. Extensive bibliographies supply detailed guidance for further research.

This latest volume in the celebrated Cambridge History of Literary Criticism addresses literary criticism of the Romantic period, chiefly in Europe. Its seventeen chapters are by internationally respected academics and explore a range of key topics and themes. The book is designed to help readers locate essential information and to develop approaches and viewpoints for a deeper understanding of issues discussed by Romantic critics or that were fundamental to their works. Primary and secondary bibliographies provide a guide for further research.

This volume provides a thorough account of the critical tradition emerging with the modernist and avant-garde writers of the early twentieth century (Eliot, Pound, Stein, Yeats), continuing with the New Critics (Richards, Empson, Burke, Winters), and feeding into the influential work of Leavis, Trilling and others. The book provides a companion to the other twentieth-century volumes of The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism, and offers a systematic and stimulating coverage of the development of the key literary-critical movements, genres, and individual critics.

Volume 8 of The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism (the second to be published) deals with the most hotly debated areas of literary theory, including Structuralism, Poststructuralism, Semiotics, and Hermeneutics. Also incorporating a reflective chapter by Richard Rorty on Deconstruction, and culminating in accounts of the reader-oriented criticism of critics such as Stanley Fish, this is the first book to engage systematically with the history of the twentieth century's most profound and extensive set of cross-cultural intellectual movements.

This volume in The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism brings together a wide range of highly informative essays on developments in literary criticism and theory during the twentieth century. The main focus is on historical, philosophical and sociocultural approaches to literature and it offers both authoritative treatments of the topics under review and a lively sense of engagement and dialogue among the contributors. It has a full bibliographical apparatus and provides an invaluable resource for readers who are seeking to orient themselves in this complex and often bewildering field.

This is the most comprehensive account to date of the history of literary criticism in Britain and Europe between 1660 and 1800. Unlike previous histories, it is not just a chronological survey, but a multi-disciplinary study of how the understanding of literature in the modern era was shaped by developments in intellectual, cultural and social history. It provides an authoritative historical overview in all areas of literary studies. Extensive bibliographies supply detailed guidance for further research.