Why criticism matters

By Khmer Democrat, Phnom Penh
Expanding our Mind Series

Happy New Year! As we enter 2011, may we love more, embrace more, sing more, pray more, mediate more, read more, listen more, DISSENT more... think more from our head than our spleen. Here's why.

Up Front: Why Criticism Matters
The New York Times, Editors
31 Dec. 2010

We live in the age of opinion­ — offered instantly, effusively and in increasingly strident tones. Much of it goes by the name of criticism, and in the most superficial sense this is accurate. We do not lack for contentious assertion — of “love it” or “hate it,” of “wet kisses” and “takedowns,” of flattery versus snark, and assorted other verbal equivalents of the thumb held up or pointed down. This “conversation” is often lively. Sometimes it is fun. Occasionally it is informed by genuine understanding as opposed to ideological presumption.

Six accomplished critics explain the importance of their work.

Stephen Burn | Katie Roiphe

Pankaj Mishra | Adam Kirsch

Sam Anderson | Elif Batuman

Editors’ Introduction

More Critics on Criticism

But where does it leave the serious critic, one not interested, say, in tabulating the number of “Brooklyn novelists” who receive attention each year in publications like this one (data possibly more useful to real estate agents and sociologists than to readers)? Where does it leave the critic interested in larger implications — aesthetic, cultural, moral? This question prompted us to approach six accomplished critics, each well versed in the idioms of the moment but also steeped in the older traditions of literature and criticism. We asked the six to explain what it is they do, why they do it and why it matters. We asked them, additionally, to undertake the assignment in the spirit Alfred Kazin did half a century ago in his ambitious statement of purpose “The Function of Criticism Today.” (Not that Kazin was the first critic to reflect on the “function” and value of his craft. See our essay “Masters of the Form” for other examples, some dating back to the 19th century.)