Leavis

How good to know that Leavis is remembered; how discouraging to learn that it is primarily for his bad temper.

The Grumpy Critic « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

That’s okay, because what you read in University was largely decided by two people who drew up a list in the 1920’s – a man called Leavis and his wife who felt that things like “bestsellers” should be burnt for the public good.

Need a hero, need a book, need some sleep Elizabeth McClung 2007

That’s okay, because what you read in University was largely decided by two people who drew up a list in the 1920’s – a man called Leavis and his wife who felt that things like “bestsellers” should be burnt for the public good.

Archive 2007-01-01 Elizabeth McClung 2007

Leavis came from a very different class to those old men of letters; he came from a social stratum of grafters and fighters, where you had to push for what you wanted and keep an eye out for all the people who would bring you down.

The Grumpy Critic « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

I remember (vaguely!) learning about Leavis at university, but having read your post about how unpleasant he is, I kinda think I might have to learn more about him.

The Grumpy Critic « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

Leavis was a big arguer, and a formidable literary critic, though, so he would be bound to put conflict, even of the most gentle and benign nature first.

That Book You Loved? I Hated It « Tales from the Reading Room 2010

Leavis had an indirect but significant on New Zealand literary criticism in its early days (the 1930s and 40s in particular).

The Grumpy Critic « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

The spirit of Leavis lingers on in Cambridge, but my response to it has changed radically over the years.

The Grumpy Critic « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

And power-mongering, while it may make critics feel special, is also what keeps them isolated, embattled and friendless, as the case of Leavis so comprehensively showed.

The Grumpy Critic « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

If I told you, as Leavis argued, that your moral worth could be gauged by the sensitivity of your literary responses, and that together we were protecting society from its barbaric elements by celebrating the glory of literature, then the stakes of any little dispute would rise sky high.

The Grumpy Critic « Tales from the Reading Room 2009