Date of Award
1900
Degree Type
Bachelors Essay
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Department
Literatures, Languages, and Cultures
Abstract
After all, the true test of a good story is not whether the teacher in English approves of it or not, or whether the critics in the magazines let it pass or not, but whether or not it appeals to the reader, - to the individual reader, and to groups and nations of readers. It seems to me, that now-a-days there is altogether too much unreality, if not dishonesty, in literary criticism. And this dishonesty and unreality have been injected into the minds of boys and girls by responsible professors of English in our high schools particularly. In the classroom, stories, novels, tales are "studied", discussed, analyzed. Then tests are written. If the student does not conform in opinion to the ideas of the professor, his paper is marked down. Very little account is made of the fact that literary excellence is a thing much more honestly judged by individual and unprofessional criticism than by representative and professional criticism. Inside the classroom, especially, there is usually very little room given to this honest method, not only of judging, but of voicing judgment. The old Greeks had this honest method. And Robert L. Stevenson tells us that hls village had it when he was a boy.
Recommended Citation
Rheude, M. Bernard, "The Sympathy and Understanding of O. Henry" (1900). Bachelors’ Theses. 1763.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/bachelor_essays/1763
Comments
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