The Internet, Criticism and Analysis: Stephen Burn's Take on the Modern Critic

Stephen Burn makes the following points in his essay:

 There have always been critics of literature, from the first book to the modern day. These critics have changed over time. Critics were once a professional, since the invention of the Internet, anyone can be a critic on websites like Amazon. While many may say this is a bad thing that no professional's opinion is accessible as quickly as the Internet is, Burn begs to differ. He claims it makes it so authors can get opinions straight from the readers themselves.  I agree with this point; authors are selling books to common readers, not professional critics, so their opinion should definitely matter to the author.

Burn's next point is simply this: critics need to stop being more critical! Modern critics need to loosen the reigns of genre, character, emotivity and realism. Contemporary novels show the ever-evolving works of fiction that include, among other things, other genres. This is a good point; as literature has changed and developed, so should the critics!

The final point Stephen Burn discusses is that critics should do more than critique a book, they should try and think about the author's intentions while he or she was writing it, and determine whether or not the author does a good job at accomplishing them.This is true; if a critic does not understand a writer's intentions, he or she cannot write a proper critique, for it may seem like a "bad" book in one view, but may be "the best book ever written" if the critic knows the goals the author is trying to accomplish.

These are different, yet true, opinions of what modern critics should be, and what they should critique.