Bruns, perhaps one of most insightful of contemporary literary theorists, investigates the recent phenomenon of philosophers taking an interest in literature and literary theory. Beginning with the premise that philosophy and literature are internal to one another's histories, starting with Plato's ""Republic"", Bruns examines diverse thinkers and topics such as Stanley Cavell on Shakespeare, Donald Davidson on James Joyce and Richard Rorty on the Poetizing of culture. The book offers a view of what happens when philosophers begin looking at the world from the ground level - that is, as inhabitants, rather than as disengaged observers.