Theory and the Evasion of History - Tapa dura

"Teases out philosophical problems from minutely close attention to the rhetorical and formal elements of literary texts... Erudite and resourceful." -- Studies in English Literature

Is literary history really history? What is its relation to literary theory? In Theory and the Evasion of History, David Ferris ranges from the philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle to nineteenth-century criticism, poetry, and prose fiction to examine the relation of literature to history as subject of both theoretical and thematic importance. Focusing on theintellectual debts of the literary interpretations of Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Eliot, Ferris identifies an "evasion" which literary history and literary theory cannot help but perform if they are to maintain themselves as disciplines.