Davidson, Nicholas

English

DigitalCommons@URI

University of Rhode IslandDigitalCommons@URIIannone, Carol: National Council on theHumanities Nomination (1991)Education: National Endowment for the Arts andHumanities, Subject Files I (1973-1996)1991Iannone, Carol: National Council on theHumanities Nomination (1991): News Article 02Nicholas DavidsonFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/pell_neh_I_35This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Education: National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, Subject Files I(1973-1996) at DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Iannone, Carol: National Council on the Humanities Nomination(1991) by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@etal.uri.edu.Recommended CitationDavidson, Nicholas, "Iannone, Carol: National Council on the Humanities Nomination (1991): News Article 02" (1991). Iannone,Carol: National Council on the Humanities Nomination (1991). Paper 20.http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/pell_neh_I_35/2017ie Iannone Nornination It is heartening to sec The Post opposing the Modern Linguage i\ssocia-t ion's c:1mp:1i}:11 ;1gainst the no111i11;1tio11 of C;1rol l;umonc to the National Council on the Humanities [editorial, May 20]. The spurious charge of racism has been launched, and this level of irresponsibili-' ty typifies what is wrong with the whole MLA campaign. Still, The Post is unfair when it characterizes Carol Iannone as someone "who has made a reputation as a slash-and-burn critic." Anyone who has followed Miss Iannone's regular articles in Commentary is bound to be surprised by that characteri1.1tion. lier writing is conspicuous for its carrfulncss and b;il-anc<! in a field where this is not alw:1ys the case. Very likely, it is precisely this responsibility and moderation th;it so rankle her critics. It is also misleading to assert that Miss Iannone has focused more on criti-cis111 than on literature. Much, pruhai>ly most, of her writing consists of in-depth reviews of contemporary novels. !3ut even if The Post's charge were accu-rate, there would be nothing wrong with discussing critical theory, as Carol fan-none has occasionally done. As anyone who even remotely follows critical fash-ions is well aware, the fashionable liter-ary theories exalt the authority of the critic over that of the text. In other words, a text is held to mean whatever the reader wants it to. If to criticize the denial of meaning, as Carol Iannone does, is now "political" and "conserva-tive" in the eyes of The Post, there may be a lot more conservatives out there than anybody suspected. NICHOLAS DAVIDSON New York /1AY ) I•;, JCf?I 

Iannone, Carol: National Council on the Humanities Nomination (1991): News Article 02

https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&amp;context=pell_neh_I_35

Iannone, Carol: National Council on the Humanities Nomination (1991): News Article 02

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

DigitalCommons@URI