Ruth Franklin recently picked up this year's Roger Shattuck Prize for Criticism (which she shared with David Yaffe), and at her website she now shares "a lightly edited version of the talk" she gave in accepting the award.
Among her observations:
Among her observations:
It's the task of the critic to champion books that deserve to be championed, and to take a stand against those that have the power to harm. And anyone who doesn't believe that books have the power to harm is not taking them seriously enough.