For as long as there have been authors, there have been critics. The relationship between these two is intriguing because, while receiving negative reviews or public criticism is never pleasant for an author, such criticism plays a significant role in shaping their cultural legacy. Now this does not mean that anything and everything said about an author automatically becomes important to their work. What it does mean is that critical readings of texts throughout time serve as a way to track not only the development of an author and their public reception, but also as a way to track cultural developments as a whole.
Take Mary Wollstonecraft for example. In her time, Wollstonecraft was considered by a good amount of the public and critics alike to be a radical who rejected moral codes. However, modern critics might disagree, some even stating that her most notable work Vindication of the Rights of Women, while originally received as sexually liberating, actually reflects “a fear of the disruptive power of female sensuality” (Grimshaw). Culture changes and oftentimes so does the place that works of literature hold in it. Through these shifts in public reception, modern readers are given a sort of time machine into the Zeitgeist of a certain time and how it has developed.
Critical reception of literature is also important as it can prompt readers to engage with that they consume in a more critical way themselves. I saw this happen in real time during my short stint on ‘BookTok.’ I remember when I initially heard about Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life it was nothing but praise. Everyone loved it, until they didn’t. I remember one review in particular seemingly changed the conversations surrounding A Little Life overnight. Once considered a beautifully heartbreaking portrayal of the tragedies of life, it was now being questioned. Why is a straight woman spending over 700 pages torturing her gay male character and how much authority does she really have to be telling a story like this?
Literature is a tool for communicating any and every aspect of human life: thought, desire, grief—the list goes on. So why communicate without expecting a response? The voice of critics and the public alike are then integral to the world of literature as without it the conversation becomes stale before even starting.
References:
Grimshaw, Jean. “Mary Wollstonecraft and the Tensions in Feminist Philosophy.” Radical Philosophy 52, Summer 1989.
Long Chu, Andrea. “Hanya’s Boys The novelist tends to torture her gay male characters — but only so she can swoop in to save them.” New York Magazine, 17 January 2022.