The Vehement Passions

"Philip Fisher has written a revisionary history of startling boldness, rereading the authorities in novel and penetrating ways. His conclusions have relevance to the inner lives of us all."--J. M. Coetzee, author of "The Lives of Animals" "This is really a quite extraordinary work, an attempt to reclaim for modern use a vocabulary we gave up two centuries (or more) ago, and more importantly, to reclaim or re-recognize the intense energies that go with that vocabulary--still present and alive. Fisher's whole project is enormously compelling. Its scope and force are unmistakable, and will provoke important discussions."--Michael Wood, Princeton University