Evaluation is central to literary studies and has led to a list of publications on the status and history of the canon. This title provides a textual and historical panorama of how critical debate over literary quality has influenced our modes of thinking and feeling about literature, and how they continue to shape the literary landscape.

1. Acknowledgments; 2. Foreword; 3. Introduction (by Peer, Willie van); 4. Part I. Textual and generic comparisons; 5. 1. Canon formation: Ideology or aesthetic quality? (by Peer, Willie van); 6. 2. Why Hugh Maccoll is not, and will never be, part of any literary canon (by Olson, Stein Haugom); 7. 3. Popular / canonical: The case of The Secret Agent (by Gorak, Jan); 8. 4. Literary evaluation and poetic form: Poetic form and creative tension (by Barney, Tom); 9. 5. Poetic value: Political value (by Lerner, Laurence); 10. 6. "Too soon transplanted": Coleridge and the forms of dislocation (by Miall, David S.); 11. 7. Evaluation and stylistic analysis (by Short, Mick); 12. 8. The value of Juvenal (by Nash, Walter); 13. Part II. Theoretical reflections; 14. 9. Some correlates of literary eminence (by Martindale, Colin); 15. 10. Macbeth through the computer: Literary evaluation and pedagogical implications (by Zyngier, Sonia); 16. 11. How scientific can literary evaluation be? Arguments and experiments (by Fricke, Harald); 17. 12. Philosophical perspectives on literary value (by Livingston, Paisley); 18. 13. The qualities of literatures: A concept of literary evaluation in pluralistic societies (by Heydebrand, Renate von); 19. Author index; 20. Subject index

While there is growing interest in the psychology of beauty and aesthetics applied to visual art forms, literature is often given the short end of the stick. Psych and the Literary Muses is an example of beautiful writing in itself, with research results sprinkled about. How can the written word stir our souls, awaken our senses, and stimulate our thoughts? What properties of the text can have such an affect on the reader? By looking at the Psychology of literature from the vantage point of the text, Lindauer offers fresh and deep insight into the experience of reading, balancing work being done by psychology of creative writing researchers on the psychological quirks of the writer. Lindauer’s broad knowledge base of literature shines through in his writing and only adds to the respectability of his ideas. By connecting the text to such diverse topics as person perception, creativity, learning, and even aging, Lindauer opens up avenues for research that scholars across a variety of fields may not have even known existed. At the same time, he creates bridges across those avenues in a way that scholars, readers, writers, and almost anyone with a healthy (or even unhealthy) dose of interest in the psychology of literature can relate and appreciate.