Culled from lectures delivered at Oxford from 1883-1885, this collection of Ruskin's critiques of the overall condition of England's artistic life, past and present, is divided into two sections. The "Art" lectures deal with three traditions of art: the Realistic, the Mythic and the Classic. His lecture "Fairy Land," included in this section, examines a newly emerging literary genre: fantasy. The "Pleasure" lectures range from "Learning, Faith, and Deed" to "Fancy."