The Chicago Critics: An Evaluation

This works attempts a comprehensive study of the basis theoretical perspectives of the Chicago School of Critics and their use of Classical, Primarily Aristotelian, methodologies for the examination and analysis of texts from different genres. The study examines separately the Chicago methodologies used in the analysis and interpretations of Poetry, Drama and Fiction. Perhaps this kind of an integrated and full length appraisal of the Chicago Critics with an evaluation of their achievements has not been attempted so far. The author has planned this study carefully in order to emphasize the positive contributions the Chicago Critics have made to literature and literary criticism. The concluding chapter of the book tests the viability of the Chicagoan principles for the interpretation of new forms arts such as the Cinema. This chapter also suggests some parallels with the critical principles of Indian Aesthetics as an area inviting further research. Dr.Tutun Mukherjee’s study of the Chicago Critics is both timely and significant. Writen with clarity and lucidity — reflecting an exacting authenticity to the basic sources — her study takes the reader through the entire ethos of the Chicago school. Identifying the basic premises, the book explores their implications for the major genres— drama, poetry and the novel.