Review of Theory of Literature (1942)
Austin Warren (writer), René Wellek (writer).
I’d wanted to read this ever since hearing my literature professors speak of it, in 2002–2003, as an artifact of the last time anybody with a serious understanding of literature dared to aspire to cover the entire topic, however cursorily, under such a title. The authors certainly reflect on this in the foreword. Rather than clearly representing a reductionist scientific ideal, they got what they wanted: the intrinsic study of literature, which made impossible any more unifying theory.
References here: The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).