In case you wondered …

… James Wood: What is at Stake When We Write Literary Criticism? | Literary Hub. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I like the idea of a criticism that tries to do three things at once: speaks about fiction as writers speak about their craft; writes criticism journalistically, with verve and appeal, for a common reader; and bends this criticism back towards the academy in the hope of influencing the kind of writing that is done there, mindful that the traffic between inside and outside the academy naturally goes both ways.