"The idea that there is a single 'normal' language, a common currency shared equally by all members of society, is an illusion." p. 5

"If it will not do to see literature as an 'objective', descriptive category, neither will it do to say that literature is just what people whimsically choose to call literature. For there is nothing at all whimsical about such kinds of value-judgment: they have their roots in deeper structures of belief which are as apparently unshakeable as the Empire State building." p. 16

"In the face of such forces, the privilege accorded by the Romantics to the 'creative imagination' can be seen as considerably more than idle escapism. On the contrary, 'literature' now appears as one of the few enclaves in which the creative values expunged from the face of English society by industrial capitalism can be celebrated and affirmed." p. 19

"Deprived of any proper place...