Right from the informative and insightful introduction by Goldmann's student, the top critic in his own right, M Lowy, we are bathed in clarity and revelatory theorising abt literature - as a cultural and important enterprise. not as a marketing feat, but as works of aesthetically pleasing propositions. There is an awareness of the 'baser' impulses reader's have that drags works of fiction 'down' - but the fascinating idea of correlating a philosopher's 'wager' idea with the tragic impulse embodied in Racine's work is (and always was) brilliant and compelling. It lifts the tragedy into universal consciousness and Pascal's witty recommendation to hedge your bets against or complying with fictive realities (is God a 'fictive reality?') into the everyday. The pellucid writing (and its translation by Thody is magnificent) of Goldman's thought is what amazes me, and also its contemporary feel. I, for one, am entirely grateful to the publisher and to Professor Lowy for republishing this important work as a recommendation also of how it should be done.