
The function of criticism: On T.S. Eliot’s essay on the evaluation of literature - lermontov
http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-function-of-criticism-8644
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killjoywashere
My network proxy is blocking this, but I believe it to be a link to the actual
TS Eliot essay in question: [http://tseliot.com/prose/the-function-of-
criticism](http://tseliot.com/prose/the-function-of-criticism)

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Veen
It's not the original Eliot essay, which I had trouble finding too. It can be
found on Library Genesis in Volume 2 of The Complete Prose of T.S. Eliot if
you're especially eager to read it.

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kevinwang
I'm terrible with reading these kinds of essays - can anyone summarize?

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theoh
Key quotes from Eliot himself in the article:

"I maintain even that the criticism employed by a trained and skilled writer
on his own work is the most vital, the highest kind of criticism; and . . .
that some creative writers are superior to others solely because their
critical faculty is superior"

"The critic, one would suppose, if he is to justify his existence, should
endeavour to discipline his personal prejudices and cranks—tares to which we
are all subject—and compose his differences with as many of his fellows as
possible, in the common pursuit of true judgment."

Finally, from the body of the text:

"To pick up a phrase he used earlier, taste is the custom by which we like
something with the right liking. That is the direction of good teaching. It is
easy to like something for the wrong reason. Many of us like trash for no good
or right reason. Trying again: the function of criticism—as of good
teaching—is to lead our students, our readers—to like something for the right
reason. What is the right reason? That is what we have to know and to be able
to show."

