Trevor:

> Does "The Necessity for Footnotes" follow from an increasing
> domination of criticism from the academy?

I think specifically from the USAmerican academy. It seemed to begin
happening in the late sixties, a reflex of the (as you say)
publish-or-perish scene in the US, that arrived here just that bit later.

But yes, another point, it's relatively recently that literary criticism has
been dominated by the academy. Well, it's relatively recently that it was
even inside the academy *at all*. (The various work done on the rise of
English as a taught university discipline begins to document this.)

Also, of course, Undigested PhD Theses. The rules of the game (rightly)
demand severe footnoting for a Phid.

But lordy, after you've written it, you should take the time to rewrite it
for Real Human Beans.

I'm not against footnotes per se, but the
sprinkle-them-on-with-a-pepper-shaker ...

Though this is worse in scholarly rather than theoretical monographs.

I think there was a certain point-in-time when the poor old British Academy
(England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales) got whipsawed between the American
Academy's (over)insistence on scholarly footnotes, exhaustive regardless of
relevance, and the French Academy's insistence on possessing a certain
specialised brand of theoretical knowledge, again regardless of real
relevance.

Somewhere in the middle, this poor little Offshore Island lost its distinct
academic character.

Robin

> - an afterthought, Robin: what about L=ANG poetics in the U.S.? A
> reclaiming of criticism by poets?

I think more the MFA syndrome -- poetry academicised and institutionalised.
So it's not the poets reclaiming criticism but the academy digesting and
neutering poets.

But then, I'm sure I'm biased here.

I find the Neoformalists I've come across {quality of poetry aside} more
interesting when it comes to a balance of poetry and criticism, but that's
perhaps because I was closer once to where they seem to be coming from.

I mean, Dana Gioa isn't either my favourite poet or critic, but I can see
where he's at. And it's pretty familar.

Oh, stir into this mix (Glasgow again) the criticism written by Edwin
Morgan -- he does seem to be someone who successfully resisted being
whipsawed.

(+Essays+, published by Carcanet.)

R.