René Wellek’s A History of Modern Criticism: 1750–1950 is an eight-volume monumental survey of literary scholarship, taste, and thought starting from neo-classicism up to the mid-20th century. You can find various volumes of this work available as digital borrows or downloads on the Internet Archive The Story of a Scholar’s Quest
Rene Wellek, a giant of the movement and a pioneer in Comparative Literature , began this series to trace the "modern" spirit in criticism. He defines "modern" as starting around 1750—the dawn of the Enlightenment and the shift toward autonomous art. The Structural Breakdown The series is generally divided into several key eras: a history of modern criticism rene wellek pdf
: His eight volumes act like a map of the modern mind. From the early Enlightenment to the rise of the New Criticism The Architect of Literary Judgment: A Comprehensive Guide