How to Deconstruct Almost Anything is a wonderful paper by a computer professional analyzing and explicating the current state of "literary criticism". It's very entertaining, and informative - definitely recommended.
Here's the conclusion of what is actually good in lit crit:
"Buried in the muck, however, are a set of important and interesting ideas: that in reading a work it is illuminating to consider the contrast between what is said and what is not said, between what is explicit and what is assumed, and that popular notions of truth and value depend to a disturbingly high degree on the reader's credulity and willingness to accept the text's own claims as to its validity."
For what's bad, I encourage you to read the original.
Posted by Dean at January 9, 2004 11:53 AM