What is the importance of literary criticism?

[MikeWaters]

Of course, if you consider yourself a noted critic, you have to only give kudos grudgingly. Nothing could be worse than rashly proclaiming a work of genius, only to later find out that Beverly Cleary is not quite the giant you thought.

I still remember Peter Travers calling "The Truman Show" the movie of the decade. Idiot.

When you are the greatest critic in the land, you are actually more important than the artists, and therefore you have to be very careful that you hand out plaudits wisely and stingily. They will forgive you for not liking a great work. But they will never forgive you for loving trash.