 
                        20080910.01

     I refreshed my memory about the New Criticism with a
Google search, and found a very informative Wikipedia
summary, which I think you might want to look at.

     Of course it's important not to let yourself be
distracted, to fulfill whatever requirements the teacher
makes of you, but at the same time to keep in mind that
there are other approaches to reading which may prove more
satisfying.

     I think in essence the New Criticism is an academic
affectation; it flourishes in the colleges, because it
creates an intellectual arena for competition: it give
professors a basis for one-upmanship in competing with each
other and a basis also for testing and grading their
students.

     I have not found the New Criticism helpful.  For me it
has proved most valuable to internalize what I read, to
memorize it, to meditate on it, to incorporate it into the
fabric of my thoughts and imaginings, so that it becomes an
integral part of my experience.

     Arguably, the ultimate criterion of the validity of a
technique such as the New Criticism is its interpretation
of the primary, fundamental literature of our culture: the
Bible, - and I suspect that as an instrument of Biblical
interpretation, the New Criticism would prove utter
failure.

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Copyright 2008, Ernst Jochen Meyer
