AND ENGLISH 32

Professor Matthiessen also contributed his share to relieve the monotony of filling out schedule cards with an eye to a prospective section meeting without knowing the hours of other section meetings, by an announcement which he made in English 32. Professor Matthiessen spoke with disapproval of the over emphasis which is often given to the reading of critical work in English courses, and said that in this particular course, little or none would be assigned. There can be nothing but praise for a tendency in this direction. Particularly will it meet with the approval of those who have taken English 50b, read critical works in large doses, and found them exceedingly dull. In perusing the usual critical material, one invariably thinks of that adage to the effect that "those who can, write,--those who can't, criticize", a remark which does not seem to be based wholly on fiction.

Nor is boredom the only menace fostered by the critic; his efforts often constitute a temptation as well. It is far easier, and much more expedient to read and re-hash the comments which appear in the encyclopedia on the subject of Ben Jonson, for instance, than it is to honor the bard and his works with an original treatise. And to complicate matters still further, the former procedure is invariably productive of a better grade. This unfortunate state of affairs doubtless cannot be corrected by consigning to oblivion all critical essays and essayists, past and present; but before absorbing, sponge-like, the views of others, it is, as Professor Matthiessen suggests, a healthy and beneficial process to do some slight amount of original thinking.