J onathan Kramnick’s book Criticism and Truth is more modest than its title suggests. Essentially an apologia for the nuts-and-bolts work of literary studies, it is best described not as “ambitious” — ...

Word of the Day: Quiddity meaning is the essential nature of something. It answers the question, what makes a thing what it ...

In 1966, Roland Barthes published a short book—a pamphlet, really—called Criticism and Truth, in response to Raymond Picard, a distinguished professor and the biographer of the French classical ...

Word of the Day: Refined in sound yet pointed in implication, the word Sanctimonious reminds readers that moral authority is strongest when expressed with humility rather than display.