Can someone please tell me what I was supposed to write about? And what did you guys take from this prompt? Anyone agree with any of the things I brought up?
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I think you nailed the assignment! I agree with just about everything you said
Good literary criticism can be formal or informal, with or without references to various theories about Art and Literature, but it should discuss the good and bad features of the work criticized in a way that people who are familiar with the work can discuss and that makes people who aren’t familiar with the work more interesting.
I don’t think good criticism of books includes criticism of the writer unless it directly impinges on the book(s), as in “If the author had checked the facts, s/he would have known that this part of the plot couldn’t happen.” Some books are hateful enough to be held against the writer. I don’t think “Harry Potter” qualifies, but “The Turner Diaries” does.
This is a great summary of the topic. I agree about authors. I haven’t heard of The Turner Diaries, but I do think there are some books that are so reprehensible or ignorant that I can’t help but judge their author by them. But yeah, I don’t feel like Harry Potter has to be thrown on the scrap heap because the author turned out to not be as good of a human as some of her fictional creations. I think they can now exist outside of her, and we can ascribe our own meaning to them. Thanks for your thoughtful response!