creativecritical.net presents: The Forms of Criticism

Can criticism be creative? And if so, should critics be writing in other forms as well as the article and monograph, the default forms of criticism in contemporary academia?
2023 saw the publication of two seminal books, Criticism and Truth by Jonathan Kramnick, and Critical Forms by Ross Wilson, which raise crucial questions for the future of literary studies in and beyond the university. Can criticism be creative? Is criticism a craft? And should criticism always be written, as it is now, in the form of essays, articles, and monographs? What about the panoply of other forms in which criticism has long thrived, among them the preface, the selection, the review, the lecture, the dialogue, the letter, and the autobiography, to say nothing of the various forms of poetry and fiction, and the act of translation?

Join us for a discussion on these issues. We will hear 25-minute papers from Jonathan Kramnick, Ross Wilson, Irina Dumitrescu, Thomas Karshan, Yvette Siegert, Lucy Newlyn, Ryan Ruby, and there will be plenty of time and space for thoughtful and vigorous debate.

Admission is free but space is limited so please register to confirm your place.

The event is sponsored by creativecritical.net, the Institute of Advanced Studies, and the School of Literature University of East Anglia.