This study aims to bring the modern theory of literary criticism, and Pope's 'Essay on Criticism' of 1711, into a more productive and intersting association than critical-historical structures have generally allowed. Smallwood marks out in current terms and in depth the specialized theoretial and aesthetic problem of defining criticism. He recognizes that criticism, no more than literature or art, cannot be finally codified or defined, but insists on the need for clarity in the exposition of criticism's purposes and a fuller consciousness of a common community of practice available to audiences outside the academic fold. Affirming the unfailing currency and utility of the term "criticism" as new languages have taken over the critical domain, or have sought to replace or abolish "literature," Smallwood distinguishes between the normative definitions that are everywhere apparent in modern theory of criticism, and the advantages to conceptual comprehension achieved by Pope's poetic idea of criticism in the 'Essay'.
- ISBN10 0838755445
- ISBN13 9780838755440
- Publish Date 24 September 2003
- Publish Status Unknown
- Out of Print 15 March 2021
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Associated University Presses
- Imprint Bucknell University Press,U.S.
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 232
- Language English