Beyond the Blurb is a selection of essays that identifies the most important principles of literary criticism and considers the relevance of those principles in the work of specific literary critics, including James Wood, Harold Bloom, and Susan Sontag. Intended for academic and general readers alike, this insightful collection of essays takes a contrarian attitude toward current orthodoxies--its assessment of the flawed strategies used by prominent critics is especially revealing--and offers a critical philosophy that reaffirms the value not just of criticism but of literature itself.