Thoughtful literary cricism can be wonderful. I think I’m reasonably literate but I don’t think I am required to be an expert on EVERYTHING. But I find myself reading less literary criticism because too much of it seems to be an exercise in demonstrating how clever the critic is.

I don’t need that.

It just seems to me that a critic in any field, writing, creative arts, performing arts, etc., should start out wanting the creator to succeed. So, maybe one is disappointed a lot. But I think that is where it should begin.

I’m afraid it is true that in most writing, extreme histrionics can be quite entertaining. But I wish the people who write these things would save the sharpest blades in the knife drawer for things that REALLY ARE awful. It’s not as if there is a shortage of them…