[Most] readers will agree that Mr. Blackmur's practice in The Expense of Greatness is not dangerously moralistic. He does state that "the material of the writer is morals" …, but he always demands that the writer actualize, render, fully express and not merely impute or invoke, not depend upon the good will of the reader to supply the concrete experience. The excellence of his criticism lies in his acute analysis of the writer's craft, his precise demonstration of just where and how the writer succeeds or fails in his job. Although he appears to have got his norms chiefly from Yvor Winters and T. S. Eliot, he has made them thoroughly his own. (pp. 816-17)

Yet Mr. Blackmur's scope is also limited. He is very fastidious about what is eligible for literary criticism or "susceptible of critical enjoyment." His exclusiveness is most apparent when he deals with novels. This...