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Beer's prose both entices and, one might say in a Beerism, disequilibrates: it makes it impossible for readers to relax. Her words are never casual and serve not only the obvious utilitarian effect of getting it right but of getting it right in ways we never would have thought of on our own; ... The seductive strenuousness of Beer's prose derives from her sense of the relentless fluidity of language and experience, ... Words come alive, both in her criticism and in the subjects of her study, ... it is important to recognize that her true power and authority as critic reside not in theorizing - a practice at which she is nevertheless quite impressive - but in the precision, scholarly authority, and brillance of her engagement with words, texts, history, and ideas./George Levine/Jnl of English and Germanic Philology, July 1998