R.S. Crane: A Study in Critical Theory

In the mid-thirties, R.S. Crane, the pivotal critic of the Chicago School, launched a crusade to save the humanities from scientism as much as from partial and onesided view of literature being held by the then prevailing critical approaches. He pleaded for critical pluralism so that different approaches could be judiciously used to come out with a comprehensive idea of literature. In place of a priori road he preferred to take the a posteriori road like Aristotle so that through inductive method after threadbare discussion of multivalent entity called Literature he could relate it to other cultural activities. In this attempt he differed with the new critics of his time and distinguished himself as an important signature among the modern theorists of literature.
Dr. (Mrs.) Tejinder Kaur has attempted in the present book a perceptive examination of the basic assumptions of R.S. Crane which have gone into the formulations he has made on literature as an aesthetic object and also on the theory of literature. Her treatment of the theoretical bases of Crane’s criticism is as dependable as her assessment of his achievements as a theorist in the world of today when all kinds of theories are being propounded to confuse the readers. The students of modern literature of literary theory will find the book really useful.