I should clarify my thinking on Robert Crawford. His `Devolving English
Literature' (CUP, 1982) is probably the most important critical book
to have been published in my lifetime. It documents the rise of Modernism
out of the Enlightenment. He has just edited a follow-up book on the
Scottish invention of English literature, just published by CUP but
unfortunately too expensive for me. (It must come out in paperback).
I am not sure if there is another major individual book on the subject
on the way. I hope there is.
I am sad that he seems to be lost in academia to poetry. His first book
`A Scottish Assembly' was as striking in its way as John KInsella's
`The Hunt'. The two books since then are disappointing but competent
although he hasnt found out how to write the longer poem yet.
And he is not yet 40.
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