The problem with literary studies (as generally found in universities anyway) is that it's less about the author or the work and more about the critic. It's bas

The problem with literary studies (as generally found in universities anyway) is that it's less about the author or the work and more about the critic. It's basically a pissing match to see who can construct the most impressive interpretation based on an arbitrary piece of literature. I can accept that Literature is not about science as much as it is about defining the (intentional or non) meaning a literary work carries for its audience, but at university levels it certainly likes to present itself as if it were a science (rather than an art in itself) and embraces an obscene cargo cult effigy of what real science sounds like -- exactly like new age pseudo-science. Furthermore, by presenting itself as a science, it gives undue authority to other social "sciences" that seem to get away with asserting falsifiable claims with no attempt to provide empirical evidence, which in turn transfers that false authority to political interest groups. The world could do with a good amount less woo than it has now.