This indispensable book recuperates questions of beauty, form, sensuousness, and taste after they have been largely discarded by the politically engaged criticism of the last two to three decades. Understandably wary about a renewal of the aesthetic as the absolute horizon of interpretation, Weinstein and Looby-and their contributors-make a compelling case for reintegrating formalism and historicism. I can think of ... Read moreno other collection with similar richness and revisionary scope; its appearance marks a watershed in the study of American literature.
Michael T. Gilmore, Brandeis University This collection, superbly edited and introduced, is a major contribution to current debates about literature, politics, and aesthetics and to our understanding of the relationship between the critical past and present.
Samuel Otter, author of Philadelphia Stories: America's Literature of Race and Freedom Containing work by some of the finest contemporary U.S. literary scholars, and by marshalling their insights toward a common goal-recuperating the aesthetic-this volume provokes an energetic critical conversation.
James Davis, Brooklyn College, City University of New York This is a book that deserves to be read by all who are, like its contributors, 'disenchanted with disenchantment' and looking to formulate whatever might come next...
Jacob Brogan College Literature Ambitious... An invaluable read for students of American literature.
Wilson Kaiser, Edward Waters College Journal of American Studies of Turkey Show Less