"Nearly twenty years after his death F. R. Leavis is often mentioned, but not widely or carefully read." "Yet there is no doubt that his thinking on literature and education exerted a profound and lasting influence on the teaching of English in our universities and, as his students graduated and themselves became teachers, in our schools. As critic and teacher, F. R. Leavis was not afraid to enter the public arena. He was both of academe and a commentator upon it. His views were radical and combative and their expression never less than a profoundly held personal statement of belief. Even today these views and the manner in which they were communicated can arouse scathing condemnation and passionate support." "Ian MacKillop, who was himself taught by Leavis (1957-60), charts the influences on Leavis's life and work, from I. A. Richards and T. S. Eliot through to his respect for William Empson and later his famous public disagreement with C. P. Snow in the Two Cultures debate. The genesis and publication of Leavis's books are discussed with a clear understanding of his critical position and of the works to which he was responding. The development of both the influential magazine Scrutiny and the School of English Studies Leavis established at Downing College is charted with rigorous fairness, as are the conflicts and campaigns of Leavis's last years."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved