Signs taken for wonders: Essays in the sociology of literary form

Acknowledgements; 1. The Soul and the Harpy Reflections on the Aims and Methods of Literary Historiography;2. The Great Eclipse Tragic Form as the Deconsecration of Sovereignty ; 3. Dialectic of Fear 4. Homo Palpitans Balzac´s Novels and Urban Personality ;5. Clues 6. Kindergarten ; 7. The Long Goodbye Ulysses and the End of Liberal Capitalism ; 8. From The Waste Land to the Artificial Paradise 9. The Spell of Indecision ;10. The Moment of Truth 11. On Literary Evolution Notes Index