J onathan Kramnick’s book Criticism and Truth is more modest than its title suggests. Essentially an apologia for the nuts-and-bolts work of literary studies, it is best described not as “ambitious” — ...

I WANT to talk about the historical interpretation of literature — that is, about the interpretation of literature in its social, economic, and political aspects. To begin with, it will be worth while ...

In 1966, Roland Barthes published a short book—a pamphlet, really—called Criticism and Truth, in response to Raymond Picard, a distinguished professor and the biographer of the French classical ...

Lauren Oyler and literary criticism in the age of the Internet. In No Judgment, the novelist and critic explores the perilous activity of literary criticism in the era of social media. Like many great ...

This season’s offerings feature career-spanning works and collections by up-and-coming essayists. Several also use classic literature as a means to examine personal experiences. Bestseller Green ...

Last winter, the 37-year-old literary critic and Wesleyan professor Merve Emre stood in front of a microphone in Rachel Comey's Soho boutique. The New York Review of Books was celebrating its new ...