Topographies (Meridian Crossing Aesthetics)

Rating:
Summary: uneven, but stimulating
Review: I am not a theory head/lit. crit. type really, but I did find this book more stimulating than most things I've been reading about literary criticism lately. The introductory chapter was particularly useful to me in thinking about what topography means in literary texts. Miller's reading of Hardy is inspired, but in later chapters he seems to wander from the original premise a bit more than I would have liked. He presents interesting readings of an odd but fruitful collection of writers, including Plato and Nietzsche. His central notion is that literature is ultimately about mapping a place, and that at the heart of each text lies that which can't be mapped. Highly recommended!