Reading Paul de Man taught a generation of American critics what critical readings might mean. His philosophic reach, his self-critical scruple, and his inventive verbal precision combined to form an inimitable but deeply influential style. This collection holds special interest for its long, chronological range...The praise that de Man granted Yeats applies equally to his own work: it constantly warns against the danger of unwarranted hopeful solutions. -- Jonathan Arac Like de Man's other works, The Rhetoric of Romanticism -- demaning and authoritative -- will trouble and stimulate literary criticism, but it is engaging in an unexpected way...a challenging and historic book. -- Jonathan Culler

This last work by Paul de Man before his death in 1983 brings together what is essentially his complete work on the study of European Romanticism and post-Romanticism.