In addition to the lectures there is an epilog which
summarizes the major themes and their implications for
literary criticism and aesthetics. I am grateful to Pro-
fessor Herbert M. Schueller, Chairman of the English
Department, and Dr. Harold A. Basilius, Director of
the Wayne State University Press, for their suggestion
that there be such an epilog. They, as well as Professor
Everett J. Nelson, Patricia Davis, editor at the Wayne
State University Press, and my wife, read the manu-
script; I am grateful to them for their criticisms. I wish
also to express my appreciation to my generous audience,
to the members of the English Department for their
stimulation and hospitality, and to my friends and former
teachers at Wayne who gave me the opportunity to
repay an old debt. Also, I wish to thank the Guggenheim
Foundation for its aid, since the Hamlet lecture was pre-
pared during my tenure as a John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Fellow ( 1959-60).

M. W.

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