To teach, to delight and to move : interpretation, canon formation and the debate on the value of literature

Abstract

This chapter traces the evolution of literary criticism with particular attention to the interplay between ethical and aesthetic values. Beginning with classical antiquity, it explores how literature was expected both to move the emotions and to uphold moral standards, focusing especially on Cicero’s enduring formulation of the orator’s task. The chapter then examines Enlightenment debates around aesthetics and criticism, with a focus on David Hume’s attempt to reconcile personal taste with evaluative standards. Turning to the early twentieth century, it contrasts Virginia Woolf’s defence of subjective literary engagement with T. S. Eliot’s emphasis on tradition and impersonality. The chapter also considers the influential contributions of I. A. Richards, F. R. Leavis, William Empson and the New Critics, highlighting their attempts to professionalise criticism and reaffirm literature’s value. Throughout, it argues that interpretation, canon formation and the question of literature’s value are inextricably bound to ethical concerns, and that literary criticism itself is shaped by the shifting tensions between aesthetic autonomy and moral purpose.