Scholar Critic
F.W.BATESON, GONE WITH 1978!
“SCHOLAR –CRITIC” - ARCHAIC
Submitted by,
Annie Kantha.P ,
M.Phil English.
Fredrick Wilse Bateson (1901 - 1978), an English literary scholar and critic, was born in Cheshire and educated at Chaterhouse and at Trinity College, Oxford. He is best remembered for his work of the post-war years. In 1951 he founded the critical journal Essays in Criticism and his other works include Words-Worth: A Reinterpretation and A Guide to English Literature. Bateson was skeptical of ‘scientific’ and historical approaches to literary criticism.
According to Bateson, the first essential quality of a scholar-critic is scholarship. The scholar-critic must be a scholar, a researcher, before he can become a really competent critic. The origins of this book, according to the author’s preface, were a series of lectures given in various forms at Oxford, Cornell, Berkeley and the Pennsylvania State University, for the benefit of students beginning their graduate work. The textbook is useful for the use of illustrations and interesting commentary. There is a wealth of information and advice running through the book which is essential for a young graduate student.
Bateson’s Scholar-Critic deals with Research. Research is composed of two words, ‘Re’ and ‘search’ which means to search again or to search for new facts or to modify older ones in any branch of knowledge. A Researcher does not aim at proving something, but at discovering something. Novelty for the sake of novelty is not and should not be the aim of the researcher.
Bateson is not at his best as a theorist and the least satisfactory of his chapters “Sense of Fact”, “The literary
“SCHOLAR –CRITIC” - ARCHAIC
Submitted by,
Annie Kantha.P ,
M.Phil English.
Fredrick Wilse Bateson (1901 - 1978), an English literary scholar and critic, was born in Cheshire and educated at Chaterhouse and at Trinity College, Oxford. He is best remembered for his work of the post-war years. In 1951 he founded the critical journal Essays in Criticism and his other works include Words-Worth: A Reinterpretation and A Guide to English Literature. Bateson was skeptical of ‘scientific’ and historical approaches to literary criticism.
According to Bateson, the first essential quality of a scholar-critic is scholarship. The scholar-critic must be a scholar, a researcher, before he can become a really competent critic. The origins of this book, according to the author’s preface, were a series of lectures given in various forms at Oxford, Cornell, Berkeley and the Pennsylvania State University, for the benefit of students beginning their graduate work. The textbook is useful for the use of illustrations and interesting commentary. There is a wealth of information and advice running through the book which is essential for a young graduate student.
Bateson’s Scholar-Critic deals with Research. Research is composed of two words, ‘Re’ and ‘search’ which means to search again or to search for new facts or to modify older ones in any branch of knowledge. A Researcher does not aim at proving something, but at discovering something. Novelty for the sake of novelty is not and should not be the aim of the researcher.
Bateson is not at his best as a theorist and the least satisfactory of his chapters “Sense of Fact”, “The literary
Bibliography: Primary Sources 1. Bateson, Fredric Wilse: Scholar-Critic: An Introduction to Literary Research. London: Routledge and Kegan, 1972. Print. Secondary Sources 1. Kumar, Arvind: Research Methodology in Social Science. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2002. Print. 2. Cunningham. “F.W.Bateson: Scholar, Critic and Scholar-Critic.” Oxfordjournals.org.22sep2010.Web.20oct2010. 3. Kolb,Gwin. “The Scholar-Critic: An Introduction to Literary Research.” jstor.org.Apr1973.Web.20Oct2010.