Michial Farmer moderates a discussion of literary criticism's roots, its character as distinctive from Literary Theory, and the place of criticism in teaching and in the creation of artistic works. Along the way the discussion deals with the material conditions that lead to contemporary literary criticism, the movements against which it has tended to react, and its promise for better reading. Among the authors and texts discussed are J.R.R. Tolkien, Cleanth Brooks, John Updike, Sir Philip Sidney, John Milton, and William Wordsworth.
