Arthur Symons: Poet, Critic, Vagabond
Edited by Elisa Bizzotto and Stefano Evangelista
Studies In Comparative Literature 44•25 May 2018
- ‘The MHRA's recent commitment to publishing works by or on Arthur Symons was sus=tained in 2017 with selections edited by Nicholas Freeman and by Jane Desmarais and Chris Baldick. That commitment continues with a volume of essays on Symons’s life and work, many of which discuss his personal, intellectual, and artistic relations with aspects of European culture... In their short but excellent introduction, Bizzotto and Evangelista argue that their collection, “the first ... entirely dedicated to Symons[,] ... aims to project a new, nuanced view of Symons into the twenty-first century.”’ — Ian Small, English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 62.3, 2019, 599-606
- ‘Once consecrated by Pater as a successor to Browning, Symons ranged far beyond poetry to practise literary and art criticism, aesthetic theory, drama, travel writing and translation; and he wrote prolifically, if self-cannibalistically, until his death in 1945.’ — Ellen Crowell, Times Literary Supplement 7 June 2019, 35
- ‘A book devoted to the work of Arthur Symons is timely and much needed; and this carefully fashioned and integrated collection of essays offers an excellent response to that need... This is a well-crafted collection; a thoughtful and integrated multi- authored study of a writer, and one that has been put together both to confirm his significance to many of our current scholarly preoccupations while simultaneously unsettling what it might mean to think of a writer as ‘central’ to any of those debates.’ — Marion Thain, Comparative Critical Studies 17.1, 2020, 161-64 (full text online)
- ‘The book is clearly a timely contribution to our knowledge of Symons and represents a significant milestone in his ongoing critical retrieval.’ — Rob Harris, Studies in Walter Pater and Aestheticism 5, 2020, 140-44
- ‘Gives Symons the meticulous attention that such a pivotal cultural figure deserves. One of the most insightful aspects... is its analysis of the wandering obliqueness of his Decadent perspective as it reflects his philosophical commitment to freedom of expression, experience, and lifestyle.’ — Dennis Denisoff, Victorian Studies 62.4, 2020, 686-88 (full text online)
Comparative Literature in Britain: National Identities, Transnational Dynamics 1800-2000
Joep Leerssen
Studies In Comparative Literature 27•23 September 2019
- ‘This is a study of the rare kind of which it can truthfully be said that it is definitive: the description fits Leerssen’s book perfectly. To those still living who launched comparative literature in the new universities some 50 years ago it will come as a happy reminder of an exciting time of innovation and change which they were fortunate to have been part of. To those of a later generation it will reveal that what happened in the 1960s did not emerge from nowhere: a long and honourable history, ably explored by Professor Leerssen, led up to it.’ — John Fletcher, Journal of European Studies 50.3, 2020, 302-321 (full text online)
- ‘The publication of [this book] is welcome news... The entire section on the nineteenth century is a treasure house of insights into cross-national and comparative ways of approaching knowledge... This is, all in all, a book to be heartily recommended for a wide variety of readers interested in comparative studies in the humanities and social sciences, while being of particular interest to those wishing to understand the evolution of literary and cultural studies.’ — Barnita Bagchi, History of Humanities Fall 2020, 554-56
Henry Crabb Robinson, Essays on Kant, Schelling, and German Aesthetics
Edited by James Vigus
Critical Texts 18•15 October 2010
- ‘Robinson's expertise in German philosophy can now be studied in significant detail in the well-documented edition prepared by James Vigus ... Vigus has not only brought together for the first time a full collection of Robinson's essays on German Philosophy, he has made these bold forays into the complexities of Kant and Schelling readily accessible in his general Introduction ... and his notes on the origin and provenance of each of the manuscripts. His volume is a valuable resource ... Scholars of the reception of German Philosophy in the British Romantic period will find it worthwhile to put Robinson alongside of Coleridge at the top of their reading list ... [A] remarkable achievement.’ — Frederick Burwick, The Wordsworth Circle XLI.4, 2010, 244-47
- ‘Vigus' [edition] bears impressive witness to Robinson's expertise and fills a void [...] the corpus of published and manuscript material remains a fascinating guide to the dynamic intellectual and literary culture of Germany at the beginning of the nineteenth century. [...] Vigus' authoritative, scholarly edition of Robinson's Essays is an essential text for anyone interested in late Enlightenment and early Romantic thought in Germany and in what Robinson did to disseminate that thought beyond the borders of the German-speaking world.’ — Eugene Stelzig, New Books On Literature 19, 28 June 2011
- ‘This volume will be of interest to scholars elucidating the state of Rational Dissent around 1800; to Kant specialists who deal with the early responses to Kant in Great Britain, especially given that Robinson's reception of Kant was superior to that of most of his British contemporaries; to Schelling specialists focussing on the development of Schelling's philosophy between 1800 and 1805; to Staël specialists investigating the background of her work on Germany De l'Allemagne [...] and perhaps most interestingly, Robinson's attempt to understand German philosophy will be relevant to those historians of philosophy and of ideas who believe that much can be learned from comparing radically different philosophical movements [...]. The introduction provides a fine overview and the editor's notes are helpful.’ — Vilem Mudroch, Enlightenment and Dissent 27, 2011, 188-91
- ‘James Vigus's excellent edition of Crabb Robinson's writings marks a new appreciation of his life and work. Crabb Robinson emerges from this volume as a writer and intellectual of considerable significance in his own right, and as one whose ideas contributed to the genesis and development of European Romanticism.’ — Stephen Burley, The Charles Lamb Bulletin n.s. 154, Autumn 2011, 161-63
- ‘As a pioneer of intercultural exchange, Robinson remains too little known today. James Vigus’s edition of his philosophical writings provides a valuable adjunct to the ongoing Crabb Robinson Project of the Dr Williams Centre for Dissenting Studies.’ — H. B. Nisbet, Modern Language Review 107.3, 2012, 970-71 (full text online)
- ‘This collection is a most welcome addition to the slowly growing number of editions of writings by one of Romanticism's most fascinating literary figures. [...] The resultant picture, perspicuously outlined in Vigus's introduction, is of 'a complex process of cultural transfer by which the metaphysics and aesthetics topical in Jena and Weimar around 1800 spread to Europe'. [...] [T]he texts presented in this volume [...] enable us to appreciate [Robinson's] own intellectual achievements more fully and justly than ever before.’ — Nicholas Halmi, The Coleridge Bulletin n.s. 39, Summer 2012, 100-02
Literary Periodicals
Edited by C. J. Rawson
Yearbook of English Studies 16•1 January 1986
The Politics of Postcolonial Criticism
Edited by Andrew Gurr
Yearbook of English Studies 27•1 January 1997