M. A. Screech, best known for his translations of Montaigne and Rabelais, has collected a series of brilliant essays on the question of when laughter was acceptable to the Western Church. During a time of reform and concerns about heresy, laugher becomes a subtle measure of when and how one can risk rule-breaking. While it could be cruel to mock those who fell into error, it wasas Screech points out so much better than burning them. Professor Screech explores what inspired laughter in the Renaissance, and whether it could be innocent."

Solomon (English, Auburn U.) deconstructs the two centuries of criticism of Pope's long philosophical poem, which was loved by his contemporaries, and has been denigrated and trivialized by recent critics. He concludes that literary critics should not try to interpret philosophy. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR