United States: Essays 1952-1992 Chapter Summary & Analysis - "Novelists and Critics of the 1940s" (1953) Summary

"Novelists and Critics of the 1940s" (1953) Summary and Analysis

Little has changed in the world of literary criticism in the last century because the problems of life haven't really changed much, and too many critics and readers alike would prefer a book that comforts them and agrees with their prejudices than one that challenges their assumptions about life. With that thesis as a foundation, Vidal launches a broadside against contemporary literary criticism.

Vidal sees "a significant distinction between the reviewers for popular newspapers and magazines—whom no one interested in literature reads—and the serious critics of the Academy who write for one another in the quarterlies and occasionally for the public in the Sunday supplements."

Although the critics are serious, well-educated people they have the nearly impossible task of trying to explicate the modern novel about which few, if any, "rules" or "principles" can be ascertained. Vidal calls literary quarterlies "house organs for the academic world" that seldom publish truly...
(read more)