In "The Intellectual Situation" front-matter of Issue #6 of n+1 magazine about our "Book Review Nation" the following statement was written about the modern lit

In "The Intellectual Situation" front-matter of Issue #6 of n+1 magazine about our "Book Review Nation" the following statement was written about the modern literature critic: "...what separates us from, say, Edmund Wilson? It is not taste; it is not even erudition. The profounder difference is the ability to place the products of literary work into a system of belief that appeals to something outside the literary work and the literary culture that produced it. This--not the status of the outlets for reviews, not their forum in newsprint or online--is what marks distinction in reviewing." I think there is a general truth in this statement.