On Empson

From one of today's most distinguished critics, a beautifully written exploration of one of the twentieth century's most important literary critics

Are literary critics writers? As Michael Wood says, "Not all critics are writers—perhaps most of them are not—and some of them are better when they don't try to be." The British critic and poet William Empson (1906–84), one of the most important and influential critics of the twentieth century, was an exception—a critic who was not only a writer...