Criticism, Taste, Conversation

J. Swift, “Hints towards an Essay on Conversation” (c. 1710)

 “…The worst conversation I ever remember to have heard in my life was that at Will's coffee-
house, where the wits, as they were called, used formerly to assemble; that is to say, five or six
men who had written plays, or at least prologues, or had share in a miscellany, came thither, and
entertained one another with their trifling composures in so important an air, as if they had been
the noblest efforts of human nature, or that the fate of kingdoms depended on them; and they
were usually attended with a humble audience of young students from the inns of courts, or the
universities, who, at due distance, listened to these oracles, and returned home with great
contempt for their law and philosophy, their heads filled with trash under the name of
politeness, criticism, and belles letters.”
 “…talking too much; talking of oneself; being clever at all costs; dictating and presiding;
pedantry (‘too frequent and unseasonable obtruding our own knowledge in common discourse,
and placing too great a value upon it’); bad raillery; interrupting others impatiently; not
bearing to be interrupted; rude familiarity; re-telling the same story too often…”

John Locke, “Of Study” (1677)

“Reading, methinks, is but collecting the rough materials, amongst which a great deal must be laid
aside as useless. Meditation is, as it were, choosing and fitting the materials, framing the timber,
squaring and laying the stones, and raising the building. And discourse with a friend (for wrangling in a
dispute is of little use) is, as it were, surveying the structure, walking in the rooms, and observing the
symmetry and agreement of the parts, taking notice of the solidity or defects of the work, and the best
way to find out and correct what is amiss.”

“ Literature” and “ Criticism” in the Eighteenth Century

► “Lettered”, cultivated public

► Forum for polite conversation on a wide range of social, political, philosophical, literary,
religious issues
► polite, gentlemanly discourse, civility
► conversation, “commerce”, companionship, friendship
► informal public sites (salons, coffee-houses, academies)
► new genres of publication (the periodical essay; the Spectator project)

Central issues:
► The qualifications of a critic = (moral) portrait over rigid rules; or: the critical persona
► The education of taste

Alexander Pope, “An Essay on Criticism” (1711)

Learn then what MORALS Criticks ought to show, / For 'tis but half a Judge's Task, to Know.

► 'Tis not enough, Taste, Judgment, Learning, join; / In all you speak, let Truth and Candor
shine: / That not alone what to your Sense is due, / All may allow; but seek your Friendship too.
 ► 'Tis not enough your Counsel still be true, / Blunt Truths more Mischief than nice Falsehood
do; / Men must be taught as if you taught them not; / And Things unknown propos'd as Things
forgot: / Without Good Breeding, Truth is disapprov'd; / That only makes Superior Sense
belov'd.

Pope’ s critical persona: a moral persona

► The bad critic
 pride
 ignorance; partiality; superficiality
 affectation; self-importance
 inconsistency, hypocrisy, inconstancy
 envy and spite; self-love

► The good critic

 truth and candor
 modesty
 good breeding
 sincerity, generosity
 restraint

“But where's the Man, who Counsel can bestow,

Still pleas'd to teach, and not proud to know?
Unbiass'd, or by Favour or by Spite;
Not dully prepossest, nor blindly right;
Tho' Learn'd well-bred; and tho' well-bred, sincere;
Modestly bold, and Humanly severe?
Who to a Friend his Faults can freely show,
And gladly praise the Merit of a Foe?
Blest with a Taste exact, yet unconfin'd;
A Knowledge both of Books and Humankind;
Gen'rous Converse; a Sound exempt from Pride;
And Love to Praise, with Reason on his Side?”

TASTE > precursor of aesthetics (Alexander Baumgarten)

Joseph Addison, “On Taste” (1712) – education (the classics) and polite conversation
 “But notwithstanding this Faculty must in some measure be born with us, there are several
Methods for Cultivating and Improving it, and without which it will be very uncertain, and of
little use to the Person that possesses it. The most natural Method for this Purpose is to be
conversant among the Writings of the most Polite Authors. A Man who has any Relish for fine
Writing, either discovers new Beauties, or receives stronger Impressions from the Masterly
Strokes of a great Author every time he peruses him; Besides that he naturally wears himself
into the same manner of Speaking and Thinking.”
 “Conversation with Men of a Polite Genius is another Method for improving our Natural Taste.
It is impossible for a Man of the greatest Parts to consider anything in its whole Extent, and in
all its Variety of Lights. Every Man, besides those General Observations which are to be made
upon an Author, forms several Reflections that are peculiar to his own Manner of Thinking; so
that Conversation will naturally furnish us with Hints which we did not attend to, and make us
enjoy other Men’s Parts and Reflections as well as our own.”