A major reinterpretation of the development of European literary theory, this wide-ranging study offers a new approach to ways of thinking about man's work in general. This book is a history of the idea of convention, the roles it played in the formative stages of English and Continental literary theory and in the development of modern thought.

Alan Dessen reconstructs the stage in the Elizabethan era from scrutinising four hundred manuscripts.

Erasmus' Familiar Colloquies grew from a small collection of phrases, sentences, and snatches of dialogue written in Paris about 1497 to help his private pupils improve their command of Latin. Twenty years later the material was published by Johann Froben (Basel 1518). It was an immediate success and was reprinted thirty times in the next four years. For the edition of March 1522 Erasmus began to add fully developed dialogues, and a book designed to improve boys' use of Latin (and their deportment) soon became a work of literature for adults, although it retained traces of its original purposes. The final Froben edition (March, 1533) had about sixty parts, most of them dialogues. It was in the last form that the Colloquies were read and enjoyed for four centuries. For modern readers it is one of the best introductions to European society of the Renaissance and Reformation periods, with lively descriptions of daily life and provocative discussions of political, religious, social, and literary topics, presented with Erasmus's characteristic wit and verve. Each colloquy has its own introduction and full explanatory, historical, and biographical notes. Volumes 39 and 40 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series - Two-volume set.

This proceedings contains the talks delivered at the plenary and parallel sessions. Topics covered include e⁺e⁻ Physics at Z0, String Theory and Theory of Extended Objects, High Energy pp Physics, Non-Accelerator Particle Physics, Conformal Field Theory, e⁺e⁻ Physics below Z⁰, Structure Functions and Deep Inelastic Scattering, Neutrino Physics, Recent Developments in 2-Dimensional Gravity, Lattice Gauge Theory and Computer Simulations, CP Violation , Accelerator Physics, Cosmology and Particle Physics, Interface Between Particle and Condensed Matter Physics, Detector R&D, and Astroparticle Physics.

In Interpretive Conventions, Steven Mailloux provides a general introduction to reader-response criticism while developing his own specific reader-oriented approach to literature. He examines five influential theories of the reading process—those of Stanley Fish, Jonathan Culler, Wolfgang Iser, Norman Holland, and David Bleich. He goes on to argue the need for a more comprehensive reader-response criticism based on a consistent social model of reading. He develops such a reading model and also discusses American textual editing and literary history.