Leftist liberators: American literary criticism in the thirties Leftist liberators: American literary criticism in the thirties

In Unusable Past (1986) Russell Reising has recently offered his establishment of a canon of critics. 1 The book argues for an understanding of American Literature as "a reflection of American society" and for a literary criticism that is "striving for a more social or cultural appreciation of American literature" by taking "a rigorous social approach" (Reising 218). Reising tries to make his readers believe that social and Marxist criticism is a product of the nineteen—eighties and shows himself largely uninformed of the origins of the kind of criticism from the Left that he advocates: while he does give two brief mentions to Granville Hicks, names like V. F. Calverton and Michael Gold do not appear in his account. In Unusable Past (1986) Russell Reising has recently offered his establishment of a canon of critics. 1 The book argues for an understanding of American Literature as "a reflection of American society" and for a literary criticism that is "striving for a more social or cultural appreciation of American literature" by taking "a rigorous social approach" (Reising 218). Reising tries to make his readers believe that social and Marxist criticism is a product of the nineteen—eighties and shows himself largely uninformed of the origins of the kind of criticism from the Left that he advocates: while he does give two brief mentions to Granville Hicks, names like V. F. Calverton and Michael Gold do not appear in his account.