MATHEW ARNOLD

The Function of Criticism at the Present Time


Still, in full measure, the sense of creative activity belongs only to genuine creation; in literature we must never forget that. But what true man of letters ever can forget it? It is no such common matter for a gifted nature to come into possession of a current of true and living ideas, and to produce amidst the inspiration of them, that we are likely to underrate it. The epochs of Æschylus and Shakespeare make us feel their preëminence. In an epoch like those is, no doubt, the true life of literature; there is the promised land, towards which criticism can only beckon. That promised land it will not be ours to enter, and we shall die in the wilderness: but to have desired to enter it, to have saluted it from afar, is already, perhaps, the best distinction among contemporaries; it will certainly be the best title to esteem with posterity.

Silvia Bratu

Mathew Arnold
 

The Function of Criticism at the Present Time

Totusi, sensul activitatii creative este in totalitate acela al creatiei originale; cand e vorba de literatura, nu trebuie să uitam acest lucru. Dar care dintre adevaratii oameni de litere il poate vreodata uita? Nu e un fapt atat de obisnuit, pentru o fire daruita cu talent, acela de a intra in posesia unui curent de idei adevarate si vibrante si de a crea inspirat fiind de acestea, incat sa existe posibilitatea de a-l subestima. Epocile lui Eschil şi Shakespeare ne fac sa simtim preeminenta acestora. Intr-o astfel de epoca se regaseste, fara indoiala, adevarata viaţa a literaturii; este taramul fagaduintei, catre care critica nu poate decat sa aspire. Nu vom putea patrunde in acel taram al fagaduintei si vom pieri in pustietate: dar a fi dorit să-l patrundem, a-l fi salutat de departe, reprezinta, poate, deja, cea mai inalta distinctie printre contemporani; va fi cu siguranta cel mai bun titlu de luat in considerare pentru posteritate.