A person unacquainted with literary studies asked me what literature I discuss in this book. To his surprise, I explained that I do not directly analyze literature. This is a theoretical work that posits a history of literary criticism in the eighteenth century to account for the way gendered knowledge shapes literary value. It obviously is not the only or, finally, the “true” history of literary criticism, but it offers an examination of conventions in critical language that tell a side of the story that has not yet been discussed. In doing so it complicates the understanding of the critical practice of the eighteenth century, which has implications for our own assumptions and commonplaces. I have structured the argument around several critical inheritances that inform the study of literature today. More importantly, however, the book opens up to inquiry the matrix of critical and gendered values through which eighteenth-century literature is produced. As such it re-signifies the critical vocabulary for analyzing those works, with particular attention to values or forms that have been denominated feminine.

The completion of this project is indebted to some dear friends and generous colleagues. I thank Martine Watson Brownley for her strong mentoring and support for my work. I am grateful to John Sitter for his judicious advice and instruction. The book gained much by the thoughtful readings and critical commentaries of Peggy DesAutels, Elisabeth Fraser, Bob Hall, Elizabeth Hirsh, Jo Parker, Ruth Whitney, James Winn, and most especially Carole Meyers.