'The starting point of this bold and ambitious book is Milton's hostility to 'system'.  Countering the Romantic view that Milton wrote 'in fetters', Claire Colebrook recovers the dynamic quality, the vitalism, of his prose and poetry, which locates the divine in many different and shifting forms, and she defends this recovery as a necessary counter-response to a tradition of literary criticism that would, mistakenly, rescue Milton from his own theodicy.  But more than this, Colebrook makes an eloquent and original defence of the relevance of Milton today ... This is a major contribution to Milton studies and the history of critical thought.' - Jennifer Richards, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Jennifer Richards, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Mention -Chronicle of Higher Education, May 30, 2008

"Colebrook's book is consistently interesting and presents often surprising dialogues between Milton's works and later theorists ... Claire Colebrook's exacting analysis is a welcome addition to the flurry of scholarshup for Milton's 400th year." Times Literary Supplement, January 2009    

Mention in Studies of English Literature 1500-1900 (SEL), Vol. 49, Winter 2009

"In this clearly written, well-researched, and extraordinarily insightful book, Colebrook posits vitalism in Milton's poetry...Valuing intuition, human dynamism, and individuals' perceptual interaction with the world and others, Colebrook reanimated Milton's poetry so that the reader becomes a site of meaning...Summing up: Highly recommended. Graduate students and above." - A. C. Labriola, CHOICE, September 2008

A. C. Labriola, Choice