Pleasing myself: From Beowulf to Philip Roth

Frank Kermode has a strong claim to be Britain's most distinguished literary critic. Over the course of a long career, he has written on a enormous variety of English literature, most recently William Shakespeare's plays. This collection should be of keen interest to lovers of that literature, and also to those interested in post-war British intellectual life. For as much as these essays exemplify the tension, the patience and the insight of a great critic, in their defense of proportion and clarity they are also works of ethical importance.

Sir Frank Kermode is the first literary critic to be knighted since Empson and is widely acknowledged as the head of the profession in this country. His previous book include A SENSE OF AN ENDING, his autobiography, NOT ENTITLED and SHAKESPEARE'S LANGUAGE.