Literary criticism

From: Lucy Pearson <l_r_pearson@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri Oct 25 2002 - 10:45:57 EDT

Dear All,
I've been reading the posts on the value or otherwise of literary theory with great interest. I get the sense that this discussion is dividing into academics vs. non-academics, so would like to add my two pennorth.
It seems to me that the writer of the original article, although he obviously lays it on a bit too thick, has some valid points to make. It is true that there is an awful lot of deconstructivist nonsense out there and there are plenty of second-rate academics out there who embrace the jargon and complexity of deconstructivism because it _does_ allow them to appear clever. There are also some very good deconstructivist critics who employ some of the core concepts developed by this line of theory to make some valid an interesting points. Although Jim is right to say that there are not really a great many deconstructivist critics producing any current work, I would argue that literary criticism has yet to establish anything to replace the post-modern criticism of the sixties and seventies. I don't mean that there are not coherent and modern critics producing excellent work, but my own experience was that a satisfactory synthesis of different types of criticism has yet to emerge
 in academia as a whole. My BA course started with a (very useful) critical theory course which provided a very broad overview of different schools of critical theory. The course was not nearly as comprehensive as it could have been, but BA courses never are because time is in such short supply. We were then expected to enter into the course proper with a reasonable sense of theory which would would be able to apply and develop as we saw fit. The reality, however, was that tutors tended to be divided into two camps.There were those who saw critical _theory_ as a vital part of literary criticism and expected us to back up our statement not only with textual evidence but also with particular theoretical theories. On the other hand, some tutors (mainly those working in medieval and renaissance) were not particulalry interested in theory per se and placed much more value on textual evidence. Some of these tutors were slightly contemptuous of the first group. It is clear that some
  compromise needs to be reached between these two camps. In many cases this compromise had already been reached, but I don't think it has filtered down to undergraduate level in every university. Going by my own experience, I can well imagine that there are sufficient overblown critics to fill a conference of the kind Mr. Morningstar criticises.
The question of how post modernist critical theory should be absorbed into the older styles of critcism is of vital importance to me, because I am trying to find my own critical voice. I personally have more sympathy with critics like Anthony Nuttall or the 'classic' critics such as Hazlitt. I am most interested in how literature interacts with the reader and I want my criticism to be more generally accessible than the jargon-heavy deconstructivist stuff often is. Having said that, I am very grateful for the work of critics like Foucault, Derrida and Said because they have established some very important concepts upon which I wish to draw in my own work. These ideas cannot be ignored even by those of us who just want to read the story, dammit!
A friend of mine - a respected critic in his own right who I hold in very high esteem told me that Valentine Cunningham has produced some very valuable work on the place of criticism in the modern age. I haven't yet managed to acquire it, but I pass on the recommendation and would enjoy hearing anyone else's thoughts on the subject.
Love, Lucy-Ruth
PS I forget whoever started this strand, but thank you very much. I have had an awful day including a run-in with my manager in the boring job I'm stuck in while I sort out my life, and I needed a good long ramble on something interesting. I feel much better and am reminded of why I want to go back and do postgraduate work. I've by no means fully worked out my ideas on this topic, but I intend to enjoy the next twenty years of trying! L-R xxx

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Received on Fri Oct 25 10:46:00 2002

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