William Walsh (3) (1916–1996)

A survey of the criticism and critical thought of the Leavises. Walsh's admiration for Leavis is constantly apparent and he rarely addresses any of the serious points of disagreement with many (most?) critics have with the Leavis and his approach. Like many critics of that era, Leavis has a highly inflated notion of the value of literature in and for society, and an entirely unrealistic ideal of the place of criticism as a society-changing disciplne. The book is written in an old-fashioned rather tangled prose, but, if many sentences need to read more than once before they become clear, they do say exactly what is intended.… (mere)