TY - BOOK AU - Ley, James TI - The critic in the modern world: public criticism from Samuel Johnson to James Wood SN - 9781623569310 U1 - 801.950941 PY - 2014/// CY - New York PB - Bloomsbury KW - Literature and society KW - Social change in literature KW - Great Britain KW - Social values in literature KW - Literature--Theory, etc KW - Criticism KW - Critics N2 - The Critic in the Modern World explores the work of six influential literary critics-Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt, Matthew Arnold, T.S. Eliot, Lionel Trilling and James Wood-each of whom occupies a distinct historical moment. It considers how these representative critics have constructed their public personae, the kinds of arguments they have used, and their core principles and philosophies. Spanning three hundred years of cultural history,The Critic in the Modern World considers the various ways in which literary critics have positioned themselves in relation to the modern tradition of descriptive criticism. In providing a lucid account of each critic's central principles and philosophies, it considers the role of the literary critic as a public figure, interpreting him as someone who is compelled to address the wider issues of individualism and the social implications of the democratising, secularising, liberalising forces of modernity ER -