Literary Criticism

Gary Day is Principal Lecturer in English at De Montfort University. His previous publications include Re-Reading Leavis: Culture and Literary Criticism (1996) and Class (2001). He has contributed to The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism and for a number of years has had a satirical column in the Times Higher Education.

Gary Day has made a thought-provoking and highly readable contribution to one of the most difficult categories of critical writing: a history of literary criticism... Day's personalised ‘take’ on the subject is highly instructive. For instance, the author embeds within his narrative the grand narratives of Darwinism, the rise of Protestantism, and the like, in order to draw out various attempts at the shaping of literary criticism in its social and intellectual contexts rather than to contain them... There is a great treasure trove of curiosities here, economically expressed, which really adds to the great pleasure of reading this book...A book lover's joy.

• Acknowledgements; 1. Polemical Introduction; 2. Greek and Roman Criticism; 3. Medieval Criticism; 4. Renaissance Criticism; 5. Restoration and Enlightenment Criticism; 6. Romantic and Victorian Criticism; 7. Twentieth and Twenty First Century Criticism; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index