In the beginning, a human told a story, and another human said it was not good. Thus was born the tradition of literary criticism, which is what we’re talking about today. We’ll discuss the different schools of criticism, whether reviews are a type of criticism, and what criticism is even for. We’ll also dis on Aristotle a little, which means it’ll be a great episode for sure.
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Opening and closing theme: The Princess Who Saved Herself by Jonathan Coulton. Used with permission.
Show Notes:
I’ve been really enjoying these literary podcasts about, um, literariness and spec fic. When I went to high school science fiction and fantasy were not considered good enough for analysis or critique. They were lumped in there with Sweet Valley High romances and the like.
Glad you’re enjoying it, Julia! We’ve been having a great time deconstructing some of the weird divisions in fiction.
Schools of criticism are tools. You use one or more depending on what your goals are. You don’t have to subscribe to one all the time. Using one doesn’t mean you have to forsake others. You can (and should) use more than one at once.