The Critic as Amateur

Can the criticism of literature and culture really be professionalized? Does criticism retain an amateur impulse even as it evolves into a highly specialized activity enshrined in the university? The Critic as Amateur crystallizes the debates and desires around amateurism, which have begun to stir afresh in literary studies. While the “amateur impulse” has always been in play in the literary arena beyond the academy – in the journalistic world of magazines, reviewing, radio and TV discussions of literature – the nature and meaning of that impulse remain to be explained. This volume, the first on the critic as amateur, weds currents of thought in heretofore distinct conversations about the future of literary studies, the public humanities, university labor, and new media. The Critic as Amateur takes criticism out of the university and onto the airwaves, into the burgeoning culture of cinema, into the small independent press, and into the unregulated expanse of social media. It is a vital book for readers invested in the disciplinary history and future of literary studies. It is also a crucial resource for those who wish to understand how criticism becomes a public discourse and how it exemplifies the role of the humanities in the 20th and 21st centuries.