Walter Pater is increasingly being seen as a pivotal figure in nineteenth-century culture. His later work is often regarded as an effort to distance himself from his earlier, more controversial texts. William F. Shuter argues that Pater's writings demand a twofold reading. Shuter first offers a conventional account of the texts in the order in which they were written, paying close attention to the changes in Pater's thought and interests over time; he then returns to the earlier texts, showing how the later work serves, paradoxically, as an introduction to the earlier. Drawing extensively on...

Walter Pater is increasingly gaining recognition as a pivotal figure in nineteenth-century culture. William F. Shuter shows that Pater authorized rereadings of his work in an effort to rewrite his own literary and cultural past. Drawing on unpublished manuscript material, Shuter shows how Pater's later work can serve, paradoxically, as an introduction to the earlier. Such a rereading of Pater's work uncovers patterns of continuity and anticipation that decisively alter our understanding of Pater and his writings.