Literature on Trial: The Emergence of Critical Discourse in Germany, Poland & Russia, 1700-1800

‘A brilliant and long awaited contribution to comparative literature in the spirit of the best achievements of René Wellek. Chrostowska diligently combines a detailed historical approach to German, Russian, and Polish literatures with a clear theoretical take on criticism as a genre. Her book makes us more aware of the transnational origins of Modernity and the genealogy of modern metaliterary discourses. It is comparative criticism at its best.’ Michal Pawel Markowski, Hejna Family Chair in Polish Language and Literature, University of Illinois at Chicago

‘This multifaceted study accomplishes several things at once: it is, at its basis, the first account of how the new genre of literary criticism travels eastward from England and France into Germany, Poland and Russia. It also makes telling use of genre theory to describe the discursive spaces created for criticism within the literary systems of these respective cultures. Above all, however, the author skillfully retells the stories that the criticism of this period of the “short” 18^th century – a period seldom remembered for its brilliance – were designed to tell about literature. And Chrostowska shapes this all into her own compelling story of these 100 years of criticism.’ Thomas O. Beebee, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and German, The Pennsylvania State University