ImaginationandLanguage:CollectedEssaysonConstant,Baudelaire,NervalandFlaubert

InnumerablescholarshavelookedtoAlisonFairlieforguidanceinlocatingimportantareasforresearchandinchoosingproductiveandprovocativecriticalquestionstoaskaboutnineteenth-centuryFrenchliterature.Theseessayscontainnotsimplypracticalguidance,butintellectualstimulusfarricherthanthatprovidedbymanyofthefull-lengthcriticalvolumesthatothershavedevotedtoConstant,Baudelaire,NervalandFlaubert.Theessaysinthisvolume,whichwasoriginallypublishedinpaperbackin1984,fallintofoursharplycharacterisedgroups,oneoneachauthor.Ineachgroup,AlisonFairlieexploresarecurrentsetofcriticalproblemsanddescribesaseriesofexemplaryencountersbetweenlanguageandtheartisticimagination.AlsocontainingapreviouslyunpublishedessayonNervalandabibliographyofProfessorFairlie'scriticalwritings,thisisavolumereadersofallkindswillfindaworkofexceptionaldepthandcoherence.