Literary Criticism And Morality

Literature is the chief surrogate for faith, or at least this is what a number of thinkers after the eighteenth century have thought. But since literature has some responsibilities to fulfil, it has primarily to be moral, affirmative and positive. The three great English critics, Matthew Arnold, J. Middleton Murry and F.R. Leavis worked endlessly to establish this view of literature.
The book is an extensive discussion on literary criticism and morality, throwing light on the theory of criticism of these three modern critics. Though they have points of difference, yet their views on various aspects of literature, art, criticism and morality converge as they follow the same tradition of modern English criticism. The book also explores the nature of moralistic criticism in literature, from the very beginning to the recent times. All the three stand by certain values which will remain till man finds literature valuable and literary criticism remains a meaningful activity.
The book deals with critical concepts which have been defined by some of the most intelligent minds. It is for this reason that it brings together a number of statements in the language used by the critics which could not be improved upon. The basic endeavour of book is one of synthesis. In order to logically present the claims of the three critics, it was necessary to put before the reader a vast number of their quotations.
One of the aims of this book is to bring together the best that is found in English moralistic criticism and to show that this approach is one of the few that can save literary criticism from becoming a meaningless activity. It will be useful for the students and teachers of English literature, particularly literary criticism, and researches in these fields.