The New York Times asks the question and spends a lot of energy putting together a critique of influential critics in the fields of Art, Books, Dance, Film, Food, Music, Music: Classical and Theater.
Any field missing, you think?
Some interesting generic meditations on the role and influence of the critic and if you are hungry for some deep, engaging criticism in a particular field, seek out this NYT recommended reading. Only don’t expect to find anything on poetry.
(Hat tip Silliman’s blog.)
Çaught me out. When it said “books” I naturally thought poetry came under that. I have two whole “book”cases full of the stuff!
But no; I guess they mean “novels”.
I’ev given up reading the books of the year and all that malarkey; even the poets usually seem to choose novels. I guess trying to prove how “cool” they are (sorry = so many scare quotes!)…
Yes, that’s what I thought initially. No such luck.