A William V. Spanos Reader

"Collaboratively compiled and co-edited, A William V. Spanos Reader: Humanist Criticism and the Secular Imperative collects together in a single volume Spanos's most important critical essays, providing both an introduction to his prophetic, visionary work and a provocation to the practice of humanistic criticism.  An impressive work of exceptional scholarship from beginning to end, this is a very highly recommended and core addition to academic library Literary Criticism/Literary Theory reference collections in general, and William V. Spanos supplemental studies reading lists in particular." —Midwest Book Review 

"In the age of 'surface' and 'distant' reading, of the revival of 'thin description,' of the retreat into apolitical post-critical enumeration, A Spanos Reader reminds us that the task of the critic is to remain attentive to the secular imperative, that worldly and profane space of critique. It is to acknowledge, in Spanos’ own words, 'the full obligation to think the question of the human in an absolute sense: every single minute of one’s waking life.' This, indeed, is criticism with teeth." —symplokē