Why read Hazlitt today? Because no one celebrates better than he did the imaginative power of the mind as it invests itself in theatre, painting, literature, music and philosophy. But there is nothing fanciful or lightweight about him. He sees clearly into the darkness of the human heart, perceives 'its various threads of meanness, spite, cowardice, want of feeling, and want of understanding, of indifference towards others and ignorance of ourselves'. That undeceived vision and love of life makes him as compelling as ever. Duncan Wu introduces this selection of 13 essays by the English essayist and art critic William Hazlitt (1778-1830).