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The twenty-five critical studies in the book which cover a wide spectrum of subjects, authors, titles and concepts across time and space, may be broadly classified into four categories : essays on (i) critical theory, (ii) on individual authors, (iii) in comparative literature and (iv) on language   in addition to a culture study focussed on the present day American scenario. The essays which encompass the vast areas of knowledge from Plato to Derrida, from Bharata and Anandavardhana to Bankim, Tagore and contemporary Indian literary criticism as well as British, French, German, American and Indian authors are yet remarkable for profundity of thought, originality of approach and lucidity of expression. These highly perceptive explorations into the Western and the Indian intellectual traditions offer a rich aesthetic experience, and while scholars will immensely benefit from the book, the general readers will also find it highly interesting and enjoyable. About the Author A full Professor since 1982, Professor Mohit K. Ray is one of the seniormost professors in the country. He has two books and a large number of research papers published in scholarly journals in India and abroad, which reflect his wide range of scholarship including Criticism, Comparative Literature, New Literatures, Canonical Literature, Comparative Poetics and Translation Studies. Professor Ray is associated with many international bodies, and has attended and chaired sessions as an invited participant in many international conferences held in different parts of the world England, France, Austria, Finland, Estonia, America, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, etc. Professor Ray has studied several languages including Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic, French and German, etc. He edits two research journals. Table of Contents 1. Objectivity in Literary Criticism 2. In Defence of Pluralistic Criticism 3. Genealogy of Postmodernism 4. John Dry den : Our Contemporary 5. Sexuality in The Rape of the Lock 6. Coleridge and the 'Inmost Ind' 7. Shelley, India, and Bengali Poetry 8. In Search of La Belle Dame sans Merci 9. The Legacy of Matthew Arnold 10. Thomas Hardy as a War-Poet 11. Yvor Winters's Theory of Form 12. Reaction Against Joyce 13. T.S. Eliot : The Indie Influence 14. Mallarme and The Indian Theory and Dhvani 15. Use of Source Material for the Development of the Theme of Martyrdom : Eliot and Tagore : A Comparative Study 16. Nineteenth Century Western Fiction and Bankimchandra 17. Visions of Beauty : Tagore and European Romanticism 18. Monologues of Tagore : A Generic Approach 19. Thomas Mann and the Legacy of Schopenhauer 20. Camus's Existentialism as a Strategy of Revolt 21. Northrop Frye and Contemporary Indian Literary Criticism 22. Do You Mean What You Say? 23. Derrida and the Indian Theory of Language 24. The Ramayana, The Red Oleander and Surfacing: An Eco-Feminist Perspective 25. America in the Twentieth Century : From the Melting Pot to the Mosaic Index