Criticism

What is Literature?
Why learn/read literature? What use of it?
Didactic or Aesthetic
Entertainment, learn lesson for better life 


R.J.Rees: Introduction to Literature:  Any writing, where words / language is used is literature. For eg. Time-table, brochures, catalogues etc.
Customer to sales girl: “I wanna buy mobile. Please show me its literature.”
Thus in broader sense Wordsworth’s poem and book on surgery are literature.
Let us try to define Literature more specifically:

Literature is - holds the mirror up to nature – Shakespeare in Hamlet.
Is life enhancing.
Is criticism of life.
has aesthetic quality – emotions & motions, moving, feelings, thought provoking.
Life in fuller and deeper sense is expressed in literature.

Books are man’s best friend.
One should read books.
Reaidng of good books enrich knowledge of various fields.
Books give information about world, human beings etc etc etc…..
Safdar hashmi’s Kitaabe…

Life is but a walking shadow, Man a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then, is heard no more;
Its tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying  nothing.  (Macbeth)



What is Criticism?
How does it differ from Creativity? Who should criticize? 
Criticism (of life) > Art  > Criticism (of Art)
Definition of Criticism: 
The word criticism has been derived from the Greek word Kritikos, which means ‘able to discern and judge’ and whoever does the act of judging is called Critic.
Criticism is the art of judging the merits and demerits of creative composition. 
Literature: 
Literaedidactiese (Latin) – didactic literature – it aims to teach or to give information. (anti-literature)
Literaehumanieonare – literature – it aims to please, to move, to transport, to entertain…
De Quincey: 
Literature of knowledge: philosophy, economics, history, maths, physics, information brochure…etc
Literature of power: poetry, drama, novel, dance, painting, sculpture… etc.
Eg. Two drawings of house: Architecture’s design and painter’s painting.
All that is literature seeks to communicate power; all that is not literature, to communicate knowledge. – De Quincey.
Charles Lamb: 
Books: Poem or fine arts
No Books – Dictionary or guide book on poem. Though dictionary writing is art, its technical art.


Criticism and Creativity:
The Literature of Power as against the literature of knowledge:
Pope: “Both from Heaven derive their light
These born to judge, as well as those to write.”
Dryden: “ The corruption of a poet is the generation of a critic.”
Lessing: “Not every critic is born a genius, but every genius is born a critic of art. He has within himself the evidence of all rules.”
The relationship between Criticism and Creativity is a very close and it is very difficult to decide which of these two processes came first. This relationship is as illusive as that of the seed and the tree, and the egg and the hen. The seed grows out of a tree and tree grows out of a seed. In the same way a hen grows out of an egg and an egg grows out of a hen. Similarly, it is absolutely impossible to find out whether an artist came first or a critic.
 R.A. Scott James: To the critics of the arts and especially literature, custom has given an independent place. In this respect it differs from all other kind of criticism. [Critic of architecture, gardening, surgery, etc…… but that of poetry/drama/novel is not poet, novelist …]
Thus, since time immemorial, it has been customary to accept the criticism of art from a man who may or may not have been artist himself.
Some believe that artist should create its art and leave it for critic to pass judgment over it. Whereas Ben Jonson is of the view that to judge of poets is only the faculty of poets; and not of all poets, but the best. Only the best of poets have the right to pass judgments on the merit or defects of poetry, for they alone have experienced the creative process form beginning to end, and they alone can rightly understand it. 
Both the above given views are extreme. While it is true that the critic has understanding of poetry as well as analytical mind which proves dependable – the poets are not quite without the gift of analytical thinking. Moreover,  it cannot be said that the poet who creates does not understand his own creation, and that in order to understand he must approach the critic.  Thus, even Ben Jonson is also not quite fair. Most often, the poet who bursts out into spontaneous utterance has no critical awareness of it. He has a powerful experience, a vision of life which he wishes to communicate to others through his work, but whether it is adequately communicated or not, whether it has moving, transporting qualities or not, whether the writer has succeeded in expressing what he intended to express…etc… are the questions which a student of literature (critic) which balanced mind, poetic sensibility – though not poetic ability and capacity – has to reply.
Thus critics are distinguished person. They have qualified themselves for the task. A. pope has rightly said, it is a heavenly gift. Dr, Johnson – nature and learning has qualified them to judge.
But this does not mean that all the critics are fair and qualified critics. Sometimes we find purely professional who lack both sympathy and impartiality of an ideal critic. They do not render good service to literature, but they hinder the young and rising talent.  (Keats’ premature death, Hardy gave up writing novels). Oliver Goldsmith calls them eunuchs – themselves unable to create, and therefore they hinder creativity in others.  Dryden: corruption of poet is the generation of critic.
R.A.Scott James:  less gifted man would be certain to miss the significance of his drawing. If you show a dog a photograph of his master he will not recognize it. It will show more excitement at the photographs of dog next door.
Any student of literature who wishes to take some profitable use of the critical literature available to him will do well to keep the following words of Scott James in his mind before he goes on with the task that he has undertaken to accomplish: It may be a gain to attend to the writer of this critical literature precisely in so far as they are not standing aloof, like magistrate who were never guilty of crime pronouncing dispassionately upon the blamelessness or the misdemeanor of artist.
No critic can ever form accurate judgment unless he possesses the artist’s vision.
Criticism and creativity are inextricably missed up with each other.  Thus the artist is the critic of life and Critic, that of art. The artist must have the imagination and vision to critically imitate the life/nature; the Critic from beginning to end, relive the same experience.