Ephemera Critica; Or, Plain Truths About Current Literature

A collection of critical essays diagnoses a perceived decline in literary standards and argues that literature lacks the institutional organization and rigor found in the sciences. The author criticizes university indifference, sloppy scholarship, and self-promoting guides while urging reforms in teaching and editorial responsibility. Interspersed with polemic are measured studies of critical principles and of poets and translators, and thematic pieces on landscape, religion in drama, classical poetry, and the emergence of new critical fashions. The volume combines polemic, close reading, and practical proposals intended to raise standards of judgment and instruction in letters.