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The Missouri Review

Criticism | September 01, 1983

Symposium: The Role of the Critic / The Role of the Reviewer

The relationship between literary criticism and book reviewing is the focus of the following symposium.

Is this one of those unspoken controversies that continues to bubble along, influencing opinions, decisions, and judgements? Do reviewers suspect that scholar critics are afraid or incapable of making value judgements about any books which aren’t already
safely canonized? Do they believe literary criticism is dull and irrelevant, as self-referential as alchemy? Do critics, on the other hand, see reviewers as merely puff writers or ax grinders, corrupted by the tides of the marketplace? Have the two roles
become mutually exclusive and, if so, why? Is this either a necessary or healthy state of affairs?

Here, some respected scholar/critics and critic/reviewers offer their comments about such questions. We welcome further responses by our readers.

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SEE THE ISSUE

7.1 Cover

ISSUE

fall 1983

7.1 (Fall 1983)

Featuring work by Michael Alley, Christine Balk, Walter Bargen, Robin Behn, Ricardo Castillo, Peter Cooley, Jon Davis, Christine Deavel, Jeff Friedman, Matthew Graham, Stephen Haven, Art Homer, Mark Jarman, Robert L. Jones, Kendra Kopelke, Thomas McAfee, Walter McDonald, James McKean, Michael Mott, Johnathan Penner, Michael Pfeifer, Paula Rankin, David Ray, Nickell Romjuee, Sennis Saleh, Sharon Sheehe Start, Dan Stryk, James Tate, Byll Travis, Damian Whalen, Daniel Woodrell, Carolyne Wright… as well as interviews with Stephen Dunn and Jack Conroy and a special feature on the American literary magazine.

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