Philip Hensher

If only Craig Raine subjected his own work to the same critical scrutiny he applies to others’ 

Debunking great reputations is out of fashion — and anyway Raine tends to miss the point in his preeningly entitled More Dynamite: Essays

Credit: Dan Williams 
issue 07 December 2013

It’s important not to be too immediately dismissive of poor Craig Raine. Book reviewers and editors like him, who invent rigid literary principles and then dismiss anything that fails to embody them, have been on the decline since the 1970s. It’s true that one would probably sooner go for guidance to a generous reader who tries to discover what an interesting book is seeking to do, and how it achieves it.

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