Did Virtue and the Think Piece Ruin Criticism?

In most modern instances, interpretation amounts to the philistine refusal to leave the work of art alone. Real art has the capacity to make us nervous. By reducing the work of art to its content and then interpreting that, one tames the work of art. Interpretation makes art manageable, comfortable.—Susan Sontag, “Against Interpretation,” 1964

Carmela Soprano: Billy Budd is a story of an innocent sailor being picked on by an evil boss. Meadow Soprano: Who is picking on him out of self-loathing caused by homosexual feelings in a military context.Carmela Soprano: Oh please.—The Sopranos, “Eloise,” 2002

The single best text about criticism is Henry James’s 1896 story “The Figure in the Carpet.” I emphasize the word text because I mean it in the sombre, serious, literary theory way: as a linguistic and symbolic architecture of meaning. Following Roland...