ABSTRACT
Two things seem to have fairly well disappeared from the literary world in modern times. The familiar essay has not been of real significance for at the very least fifty years. And the fine art of literary criticism has not been seen in the world of letters for at least as long. That both have nearly disappeared is certainly a loss to modern readers. It is true of course that in the 1930s there were excellent critical essays written in such journals as The New Yorker by Clifton Fadiman. And he was followed very successfully by Edmund Wilson. It is likewise true that both the familiar essay and the critical review were celebrated in the writing of Christopher Morley. And if pressed, perhaps another handful of names could be dredged up, whose works can be said to have honored these two literary forms. But by and large these two aspects of literature are not part of the current scene. Now this writer could be said, I suppose, to have a vested interest in the familiar essay, and so little comment will be made here concerning it. But there are a few things which should be said concerning the place of the literary critic in the world of letters, a place which has to a great extent been abandoned in these latter days.
