"Geoffrey Hartman, one of the most distinguished literary scholars in America, has been a commentator on and participant in the literary-critical scene for more than forty years. He was one of the first to question the "formalism" of the New Critics, he helped to introduce such European critics as Walter Benjamin, Andre Malraux, Maurice Blanchot, Jacques Lacan, and Jacques Derrida to American audiences, and he has expanded our knowledge of the history of criticism by pointing to the relevance of the Jewish rabbinic tradition and of psychoanalytic modes of interpretation. This book - a collection of Hartman's essays from throughout his career - sheds new light on the past four turbulent decades of criticism."--BOOK JACKET.