literary criticism

More and more literary scholars agree that the field has become increasingly irrelevant to the concerns not only of the "outside world," but also to the world inside the ivory tower. Literary studies should become more like the sciences. Literature professors should apply science's research methods, its theories, its statistical tools, and its insistence on hypothesis and proof.

In the long-lived debate over the merits of literary form, James Wood, professor of the practice of literary criticism at Harvard, comes down firmly on the side of the novel—all other forms exist in its shadow. In his How Fiction Works his championing of the novel leads him to view Shakespeare as a would-be novelist and to brand poets as primarily narcissistic.

Are there any new stories, or have they all been told? The British literary critic Christopher Booker, has argued that there have only ever been seven basic plots, as follows: Tragedy, Comedy, Overcoming the Monstor, Voyage and Return, Quest, Rags To Riches, and Rebirth. Every story has been told. Shakespeare, for instance, never bothered himself with inventing plots.

Most readers of lit crit would doubtless agree that clear, persuasive, interesting writing is key. Why then are academics so intent on obfuscation? I love the photograph the most, captioned: A student is stimulated and enlightened by a new volume of lit crit (artist's impression).

$9.98 PETCO GERBIL: Anne Tyler/Carol Shields/Jane Smiley -- Secretly considered "unseemly in a wholesome way somehow" by serious literary critics; "I don't know, is it okay to read these people?" by MFA students at Iowa Writers' Workshop; and "I really, really want to stay away from those people and their books" by people who like Thomas Pynchon a lot.

Is the literary apocalypse upon us? Sure, the newspapers' book review sections are dwindling, but does this indicate a decline in literary culture or merely point out that print media is being threatened by an increasingly electronic milieu wherein all might have their say?

Shirley Dent thinks that literary criticism—specifically that of poetry—has gone wishy-washy. Everyone’s right these days, and critics have no cojones.

Blog bashing seems to be becoming a genre in itself. This is one blogger’s rebuttal to Sven Birkert’s big bash. Just what are the criteria for deciding the merit of literary criticism these days, anyway?