Preface; List of abbreviations; Part I. The New Criticism and its Critics: 1. Contemporary responses to the New Criticism; 2. The historical context of the New Criticism; 3. Before the New Criticism; Conclusion; Part II. The Formation of the New Criticism: Introduction; 4. John Crowe Ransom: the social relations of aesthetic activity; 5. Allen Tate: the social organisation of literature; 6. Robert Penn Warren: against propaganda and irresponsibility; Conclusion: the analysis of a Southern poet; Part III. The Establishment of the New Criticism: Introduction; 7. The origins of academic involvement; 8. Understanding literature: textbooks and the distribution of the New Criticism; 9. The form of criticism; Part IV. The Development of the New Criticism: Introduction; 10. John Crowe Ransom: the isolation of aesthetic activity; 11. Allen Tate: the man of letters and the cold war; 12. Robert Penn Warren: literature and social engagement; Part V. Conclusion: Modernism and Postmodernism Within the American Academy: Introduction; 13. The professionalization of literary study; 14. The New Critical intervention; 15. Cultural criticism and postmodernity; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.