Modern British and Irish Criticism and Theory offers the student and general reader a comprehensive, critically informed overview of the development of literary and cultural studies from the nineteenth century to the present day. Beginning with Coleridge and Arnold, examining the contribution of cultural commentators and novelists, and considering the institutionalisation of literary criticism in the universities of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, the book addresses in detailed, accessible and rigorous essays the rise and significance of literary and cultural studies. Nearly thirty essays contribute to an understanding of the practice of literary studies presenting the reader with a perceptive series of critical interventions which, themselves, engage in the very locations from which criticism and theory have emerged. A further reading list accompanies each chapter. Key Features * Breadth of coverage from Coleridge through Virginia Woolf to Raymond Williams and Terry Eagleton; and from the 'Cambridge School' to Post-structuralism and Postcolonial theory. * Focus on the history of modern criticism. * Accessibly written.* Theoretical debates are set in full historical, cultural and philosophical contexts.