Distinguished novelist and poet, C. K. Stead is also widely respected as a critic. Here he combines most of the important essays in ""In the Glass Case"" (AUP, 1981), long out of print, and five from ""Answering to the Language"" (AUP, 1989).

This collection of 28 critical essays provides provocative comment on the work of 20 New Zealand writers, including Elizabeth Knox, Katherine Mansfield, Kendrick Smithyman, Allen Curnow, and Janet Frame.