This important contribution to the canon debate is remarkable in examining the actual process of canon formation from threee unusual and complementary angles. The first two chapters discuss historical attitudes to canons from antiquity onwards, showing the religious, aesthetic, cultural and political interests which have shaped our modern critical canons. Each of the four succeeding chapters examines an exemplary defendant, interpreter, or critic of canons; Ernst Gomrich, Northrop Frye, Frank Kermode and Edward Said. A final chapter considers the origins and rationale of the contemporary debate, emphasising the disciplinary and aesthetic problems we must confront if our cultural institutions are to meet the challenging needs of the next century. Professor Gorak teaches at the University of Denver. His publications include God the Artist (1987), Critic of Crisis (1987)and The Alien Mind of Raymond Williams (1988)