It is one of the ironies of contemporary literary study that as it has moved toward greater interdisciplinarity it has grown sceptical of the aesthetic. This anthology works to reassert the continuing relevance of the aesthetic and to reintegrate it into the widening repertoire of contemporary literary critical practices.

Alan Singer teaches in the Department of English at Temple University, specialising in critical literary theory and film theory. His books include The Subject as Action (1993).

Allen Dunn is at the English Department at the University of Tennessee.