In this issue some of the most influential critics in the field encounter their colleagues in debate: A sad tale"s best for South Africa "Martin Orkin;" Shakespeare and Hanekom, King Lear and land "Nicholas Visser;" Questioning Robert Young"s post-colonial criticism "Laura Chrisman;" Response to Laura Chrisman "Robert Young;" Making love to our employment, or the immateriality of arguments about the materiality of the Shakespearean text "Edward Pechter;" Lover among the ruins: response to Pechter "Margreta de Grazia and Peter Stallybrass;" Busy doing nothing: a response to Edward Pechter "Graham Holderness, Bryan Loughrey and Andrew Murphey;" "Is she fact or is she fiction?": Angela Carter and the enigma of woman "Anne Fernihough;" The new romanticism: philosophical stand-ins in English Romantic discourse "Paul Hamilton"