The field of literary studies is approaching self-destruction. According to a prominent exponent of contemporary theory, critics can no longer go on "assisting readers in understanding texts," but must invade the territory of philosophy by "defining the conditions of meaning" and by transforming criticism into "a mode of knowledge."

Departments of literature are being renamed departments of "critical theory" or "modern thought," and one can read numerous course syllabi and works of literary criticism without once encountering the name of an actual novelist or poet. The deficiencies of four modern literary theories parallel the errors of modern philosophy and amount to an abandonment of the artist, the text, and the objective world. Only through a focus on the essential aesthetic elements can criticism achieve a full and exact apprehension and celebration of narrative art.