The Function of Criticism

af Terry Eagleton

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 reviewers, such critics as Arnold and Stephe... (Læs mere)