Description: The Work of Literature presents a fresh approach to the question of the value of literature, posing and responding to questions about the way we read and write about literature, its value to individuals and society, how it is best approached by readers and critics, and how it retains its power to give pleasure over decades and centuries.
Review Quotes: "Attridge at his best, raising difficult and perennial dilemmas and addressing them without evasion or recourse to jargon. The institution of literature requires perceptive, responsible, and sincere critics and theorists like Attridge himself." --Rafe McGregor, Critical Quarterly
"a valuable companion ... In its beautifully executed entirety, The Work of Literature is a limber embodiment of [Attridge's] candid, generous, often passionate argument." --David James, Public Books"Derek Attridge is one of the most formidable theorists working today in the field of literary studies." --Paul Giles, Australian Book Review