The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism: Volume 4, The Eighteenth Century

This is the most comprehensive account to date of the history of literary criticism in Britain and Europe between 1660 and 1800. Unlike previous histories, it is not just a chronological survey of critical writing, but a multidisciplinary investigation of how the understanding of literature and its various genres was transformed, at the start of the modern era, by developments in philosophy, psychology, the natural sciences, linguistics, and other disciplines, as well as in society at large. In the process, modern literary theory - at first often implicit in literary texts themselves - emancipated itself from classical poetics and rhetoric, and literary criticism emerged as a full-time professional activity catering for an expanding literate public. The volume is international both in coverage and in authorship. Extensive bibliographies provide guidance for further specialised study.

• This comprehensive and multidisciplinary volume is now available in paperback • International in both coverage and authorship • Covers both theory and practice, the concept of literature in general and individual genres

Editors’ preface; Notes on contributors; Part I. Introduction: Criticism and Tradition: 1. The institution of criticism in the eighteenth century Douglas Lane Patey; 2. Ancients and moderns Douglas Lane Patey; Part II. Genres: 3. Poetry, 1660–1740 James Sambrook; 4. Poetry, after 1740 William Keach; 5. Drama, 1660–1740 Maximilian E. Novak; 6. Drama, after 1740 John Osborne; 7. Prose fiction: France English Showalter Jr; 8. Prose fiction: Great Britain Michael McKeon; 9. Prose fiction: Germany and the Netherlands C. W. Schoneveld; 10. Historiography Michel Baridon; 11. Biography and autobiography Felicity A. Nussbaum; 12. Criticism and the rise of periodical literature James Basker; Part III. Language and Style: 13. Theories of language Nicholas Hudson; 14. The contributions of rhetoric to literary criticism George A. Kennedy; 15. Theories of style Pat Rogers; 16. Generality and particularity Leo Damrosch; 17. The sublime Jonathan Lamb; Part IV. Themes and Movements: 18. Sensibility and literary criticism John Mullan; 19. Women and literary criticism Terry Castle; 20. Primitivism Maximillian E. Novak; 21. Medieval revival and the Gothic Peter Sabor; 22. Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau and the Encyclopédie Charles A. Porter; 23. German literary theory from Gottsched to Goethe Klaus L. Berghahn; 24. The Scottish enlightenment Joan H. Pittock; 25. Canons and canon formation Jan Gorak; Part V. Literature and Other Disciplines: 26. Literature and philosophy Susan Manning; 27. The psychology of literary creation and literary response James Sambrook; 28. Taste and aesthetics: (i) Shaftesbury and Addison: criticism and the public taste David Marshall; (ii) The rise of aesthetics from Baumgarten to Humboldt Hans Reiss; 29. Literature and the other arts: (i) Ut pictura poesis David Marshall; (ii) The picturesque David Marshall; (iii) Literature and music Dean Mace; (iv) Parallels between the arts Dean Mace; 30. Classical scholarship and literary criticism Glenn W. Most; 31. Biblical scholarship and literary criticism Marcus Walsh; 32. Science and literary criticism Michel Baridon; Bibliography; Index.