Publisher's Synopsis
In recent years what is understood as "literature" has undergone thorough scrutiny by diverse branches of literary and cultural criticism. Literary critics have been with us since the first author put pen to paper, and at any one time not all of them have been in agreement about critical and/or cultural approaches and theories. Criticism is in part an epistemological exercise in hermeneutics. Newer are the perspectives that have been brought to bear on traditional aspects of the literary canon and the incorporation into this body of ethnic or religious minorities and women.
