Crit­ics! Eter­nal medi­oc­rity liv­ing off genius by den­i­grat­ing and exploit­ing it! Race of cockchafers slash­ing the finest pages of art to shreds! I’m so fed up with typog­ra­phy and the mis­use peo­ple make of it that if the Emper­or were to abol­ish all print­ing tomor­row, I should walk all the way to Paris on my knees and kiss his arse in gratitude.

-Let­ter to Louise Colet, July 2nd, 1853

Flaubert’s Par­rot may be the finest lit­er­ary biog­ra­phy and lit­er­ary crit­i­cism I’ve ever read. It’s been ten years since I last set foot in a class­room express­ly for the pur­pose of lit­er­ary crit­i­cism, but I hope that new­er antholo­gies include Barnes, prefer­ably some­where in the back so as not to dis­rupt the steady diet of Arnold, Brooks and Fish, in keep­ing with the staid tra­di­tions of my alma mater.