Two Concepts of Allegory : A Study of Shakespeare's the Tempest and the Logic of Allegorical Expression

The fundamental subject of A. D. Nuttall's bold and daring first book,Two Concepts of Allegory, is a particular habit of thoughtthe practice of thinking about universals as though they were concrete things. His study takes the form of an inquiry into certain conceptual questions raised, in the first place, by the allegorical critics ofThe Tempest, and, in the second place, by allegorical and quasi-allegorical poetry in general. The argument has the further consequence of suggesting that allegory and metaphysics are in practice more closely allied than is commonly supposed. This paperback reissue includes a new preface by the author.

A. D. Nuttall is professor of English at Oxford University and the author of numerous books, including Shakespeare the Thinker, published by Yale University Press, A Common Sky: Philosophy and the Literary Imagination, and Why Does Tragedy Give Pleasure?