Cover note: 'a...selection of key documents in Australian literary criticism from the second half of the twentieth century. Documents are grouped into four time periods [ 1950s-1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s] with recurring thematic subheadings to identify continuities and mark genuine innovations.' Thematic groupings include: Towards a Professional Criticism; Looking Abroad; A National Literary Studies; Arguing the Canon; Literary Criticism and Literary History; Race, Class, Gender and Ethnicity ; Theory into Practice. The majority of items are edited short extracts from previously published works by influential writers on Australian literature.