Criticism, as I perceive it and as I strive to practice it, is a possibility, a potential. It does not claim truth (no matter how many theories it may be equipped with or how willingly it submits to the sufficiency of its intuition) but instead suggests, exposes, and at the same time willingly opens itself up to the scrutiny of its own claims. It does not even aim to establish truth, impose rules and hierarchies, but rather to co-move the reader towards the text, towards the writing.

So, criticism is perhaps, the reading translated into writing. And this is far from allowing the critic to escape scrutiny—the ready words will not permit it: to suppose means to assume, to take upon oneself.

The poet and critic Pantelis Boukalas, who has been curating the literary page in Kathimerini every Tuesday for the past few years, gathers in this volume a significant selection of his book reviews and articles on literature, from the beginning of 1989 to 1995.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]