Garrick Davis (1)

A good collection of the New Critics' more theoretical writing, from the formalist beginnings to Winters' moralizing and the later critique of modernism and modernity. Getting a good look at the way these critics developed is the best aspect of the book- for all the praise their early work received, I was surprised that the later essays were more interesting, perhaps because more unexpected. The section on the dissociation of sensibility, and the way it was used by Ransom and Jarrell to criticize the 20th century (not the 18th etc...) was great.
The downside is that Davis' introductions are horrible. I couldn't quite work out why there was no Empson here represented until I'd finished the book: its because Empson was a leftie, and this book slowly but surely turns into a polemic against 'liberal' academics. Too bad. If you can find all the articles on your own, just photocopy them in the order the book presents them, and you'll get a lot out of them.… (more)