A review by lbrex
Forms: Whole, Rhythm, Hierarchy, Network by Caroline Levine

5.0

This is certainly an intriguing book, and I know that I'm late to the party since I'm reading it now. The way that Levine talks about social forms is very compelling and will be very useful for me and for many other critics; it's good that formalism is getting greater recognition. Sometimes, though, her assessments of other critical approaches (such as New Historicism) seemed a bit simplistic. I've considered myself a New Historicist for about 12? years now, and I hadn't bought into the totalizing notion of culture that Levine critiques here. I think the sections on "Wholes" and "Networks" were perhaps the most illuminating here, and I admire the book's concision and clarity. I recommend it to other literary critics who are concerned with theory, literature and politics, or the current state of criticism. I will certainly be thinking of Levine's points and illustrations for the next few months. Also, I've started reading the 2017 issue of _PMLA_ that responds to her work, and this has helped me get a clearer sense of some of the main points of the book as well as some of its limitations.