# I don't get it: Why does literary criticism exist? Why do we need it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379 "2011-01-12T19:53:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/41 "2011-01-13T16:53:57Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > 1. Experience a literary or artistic work completely unadulterated by outside influence to get that raw virgin encounter with the work. Which is impossible. We each have a naive interpretive frame that we’ve constructed through years of reading and living. So any “raw virgin encounter” with a work is already being mediated by a default set of preconceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/42 "2011-01-13T17:54:36Z")
I voted Yes. Okay, we don’t _need_ literary crit but why would we want to give it up? Lit Crit is FUN! It’s only problematic if folks take it too seriously and insist that there’s a “right” interpretation. It’s fun to debate the intent of the author vs. popular reception, particularly if the author is alive to dispute interpretations of their work. There are a lot of papers written claiming characters or authors from classic literature are gay. I’m gay so I find them highly entertaining, it’s like academic fanfic. It doesn’t mean that I honestly believe that Alice is gay, or that Lewis Carroll/Charles D. was gay or that he was a homo and didn’t know it. It’s just fun to read works through different filters. We spend a lot of time dissecting works we enjoy on this board we just do it with less tweed than academia. God knows I got a belly full of Lit Crit in college though, a person can definitely OD. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/43 "2011-01-13T18:18:41Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Which is impossible. We each have a naive interpretive frame that we’ve constructed through years of reading and living. So any “raw virgin encounter” with a work is already being mediated by a default set of preconceptions. I meant free from the influence of other’s analysis of the specific work. Which is usually mostly possible for works that aren’t insanely popular or classics. Obviously the only way to experience a work without any contextual influence is for it to be gibberish. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/44 "2011-01-13T18:52:44Z")
> [@Chopper9760](#): > > Okay, we don’t _need_ literary crit but why would we want to give it up? Lit Crit is FUN! It’s only problematic if folks take it too seriously and insist that there’s a “right” interpretation. I think the line is crossed when the critic passes from “I understand what the author was saying” to “I understand what the author was saying better than the author does”. With some critics, there’s an almost complete disconnection between the work they’re supposedly discussing and whatever theory they want to sell. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/45 "2011-01-13T18:59:47Z")
> [@candide](#): > > Since **Sassyfrass** , the OP has posted noting since the beginning, don’t y’all think its about time we got into a serious discussion of deconstructionism? > > Later, perhaps, we can attack post-modernism? Ok, I understand now, Sparknotes is junk and not a true representative of literary criticism. Which brings to the disturbing question that I think the number of readers of Sparknotes, compared to the number of readers of GK Chesterton’s lit crit, is approximately one million to one. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/46 "2011-01-13T19:03:38Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > I’ve discovered that there is nothing more difficult for freshman students to understand than **The Hamster King’s** very good point. They tend to be very resistant to the idea that an answer is neither right nor wrong, it’s merely supported or unsupported. You can argue a Marxist view of **Frankenstein** for example, but you’d have to provide credible evidence. There’s always one or two that simply deny such a thing is possible, and get frustrated by the notion that nobody gets to be _correct_. “What’s the point?” They ask “If we all get to have our own meanings?” Extremely well put. This is my number one problem with most movie critics. Nothing upsets me more in a review than someone saying “Kubrick’s characters display emotions that can only be measured in inches” without any support whatsoever.\* Apparently the reviewer thinks his viewing of the film is all the support that is necessary. As for criticism, my favorite criticism puts the emotions I had at the end of a film into words and explains what the film did to bring them out. It gives me insight into myself, humanity, and the art of creating art. \*Fuck you, Anthony Lane. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/47 "2011-01-13T20:03:51Z")
> [@sassyfras](#): > > Which brings to the disturbing question that I think the number of readers of Sparknotes, compared to the number of readers of GK Chesterton’s lit crit, is approximately one million to one. The implications of that are indeed disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/48 "2011-01-13T20:22:29Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I meant free from the influence of other’s analysis of the specific work. Which is usually mostly possible for works that aren’t insanely popular or classics. Ah … I agree then. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/49 "2011-01-14T15:50:39Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think the line is crossed when the critic passes from “I understand what the author was saying” to “I understand what the author was saying better than the author does”. I’ve had readers understand my work better than I do. To some extent, writing is a mixture of skill and instinct. Some things just sound right without my being able to say why, and someone else can say, “It’s because of this and this” and I feel the moment of recognition. We write from a culture and a context. We are influenced constantly by things we take in but don’t fully comprehend. Criticism often reveals things about a work the author didn’t consciously know were there. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/50 "2011-01-14T17:25:31Z")
Obligatory XKCD : > **[Impostor](https://xkcd.com/451/)** > > If you think this is too hard on literary criticism, read the Wikipedia article on deconstruction. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/51 "2011-01-14T18:18:11Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Criticism often reveals things about a work the author didn’t consciously know were there. And equally often, criticism reveals things about the critic. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/52 "2011-01-14T18:43:20Z")
I think it’s a losing game to ever try to figure out what the author _really_ intended. You’ll never be able to know. Even if you could ask an author what Work X “really meant” they probably either wouldn’t tell you or _couldn’t_ tell you. Worrying about authorial intent will always get in the way of criticism, which should be of the work itself, not what may or may not have been going through the author’s mind before or during the conception of the piece. I’ve been on both sides of this as a critic and an author. I’ve heard “Oh, Shelly never intended _that_” but at the same time, I would never tell somebody their interpretation of my work is _wrong_. Writing isn’t like programming a computer. You don’t consciously decide every single element included and what the parameters are. For example, it might say more about me than Stoker when I say that there is obviously gay subtext in **Dracula** , but at the same time, I sure as hell wouldn’t want people to make assumptions about my thoughts, goals, values, hopes, dreams, and sexual preferences based on what I write. In the end, a homoerotic reading of **Dracula** is meant to reflect \* solely\* on the text and not what Bram Stoker did or didn’t think about his story, characters, or the intense, complicated relationships he had with other men including Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, and his boss at the theater (whose name I have forgotten but who Dracula seems to be based on, description wise). ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379/53 "2011-01-14T18:49:31Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And equally often, criticism reveals things about the critic. It _always_ reveals things about the critic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-does-literary-criticism-exist-why-do-we-need-it/567379.md?page=2)