The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism

'Literary criticism matters because ... it is concerned not simply with the narrow issue of how we should read specific texts, but with larger and more fundamental questions about the nature and function of literature. The new Cambridge History of Literary Criticism, which aims to provide a comprehensive and authoritative treatment of the subject from classical antiquity to the present day, is therefore a welcome prospect. Volume One, the first of a projected nine volumes, covers the whole field of ancient criticism up to the early fourth century AD and provides the sort of thorough and judicious account that we would expect from a standard work of reference.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

'It is impossible to overemphasize the importance and usefulness of this volume as a vademecum for all serious students of medieval textual production in its multiform evaluation and its complex, ever-changing relationship to larger intellectual, social and cultural norms.' Journal of English and Germanic Philology