The Function of Criticism: From the Spectator to Post-Structuralism

by Terry Eagleton

Book Overview

This wide-ranging book argues that criticism emerged in early bourgeois society as a central feature of a "public sphere" in which political, ethical, and literary judgements could mingle under the benign rule of reason. The disintegration of this fragile culture brought on a crisis in criticism, whose history since the 18th century has been fraught with ambivalence and anxiety. Eagleton's account embraces Addison and Steele, Johnson and the 19-century...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0860917991
• ISBN13: 9780860917991
• Release Date: July 1985
• Publisher: Verso
• Length: 134 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.