Literary criticism comes into focus during the nineteenth century as one salient aspect of Kantian critique. With the emergence of ‘English’ as an institutional category towards the end of the century, emphasis begins to shift from textual exegesis to historicist analysis, and the ‘disciplining’ of the field in relation to a range of genres, styles, periods and eventually national traditions. The nineteenth century is, after all, also the great era of the nation-state (itself intimately linked to the advance of capitalism), and it is no surprise that the valuable cultural capital of literature should be conscripted for the cause.