LITERATURE AND THE IMAGE OF MAN

This book is a moderately interesting attempt to analyze a series of ""great books"" from the time of Lope de Vega to Knut Hamsun and the point of view is sociological. The author makes out a pretty good case for the rising curve of individualism after the breakup of the feudalistically totalitarian Middle Ages, as it found expression in the protests of Cervantes, Shakespeare, Racine, Ibsen and a few others. The downfall of the individual in Knut Hamsun's novels then portended the racism of Nazi Germany. The thesis is not an uninteresting one, but it is not too expertly handled here- and it seems to surprise the author- perhaps more than it should and more than it will surprise others. In any case, a market will be difficult to define or isolate.