Uploaded December 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
2016 Humanities Day Keynote Address
University of Chicago
October 15, 2016
Rumors of the death of criticism have been greatly exaggerated. It is, after all, one of the oldest of our disciplines, with roots that reach beyond Aristotle. Criticism changes in function over time, as Matthew Arnold suggested, but we cannot do without it. Indeed, it arguably plays a more active role contemporary culture than ever before. But how to do criticism? How to do it now? Departing from I.A. Richards’ influential idea of “practical criticism” as a starting point, but rejecting his invidious distinction between literary criticism and film criticism, this talk will offer some answers to these questions with examples from poetry, fiction, drama, and cinema.
James K. Chandler is the Barbara E. and Richard J. Franke Distinguished Professor in the Departments of English Language and Literature and Cinema and Media Studies. He is also the Director of the Franke Institute for the Humanities.
If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to humanities@uchicago.edu.
2016 Humanities Day Keynote Address
University of Chicago
October 15, 2016
Rumors of the death of criticism have been greatly exaggerated. It is, after all, one of the oldest of our disciplines, with roots that reach beyond Aristotle. Criticism changes in function over time, as Matthew Arnold suggested, but we cannot do without it. Indeed, it arguably plays a more active role contemporary culture than ever before. But how to do criticism? How to do it now? Departing from I.A. Richards’ influential idea of “practical criticism” as a starting point, but rejecting his invidious distinction between literary criticism and film criticism, this talk will offer some answers to these questions with examples from poetry, fiction, drama, and cinema.
James K. Chandler is the Barbara E. and Richard J. Franke Distinguished Professor in the Departments of English Language and Literature and Cinema and Media Studies. He is also the Director of the Franke Institute for the Humanities.
If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to humanities@uchicago.edu.
