Robert Penn Warren, Critic

Despite the fact that Robert Penn Warren was one of the most prolific critics of the twentieth century, Charlotte H. Beck's Robert Penn Warren, Critic is the first thorough study of Warren as a literary critic in his own right.
Using a largely chronological approach, Charlotte Beck has carefully traced the evolution of Warren's criticism, focusing on seminal examples of the critical books, essays, and introductions that Warren produced over a period of almost seventy years. Her conclusions often run counter to previous evaluations of Warren's criticism, especially to those that complacently link Warren to Cleanth Brooks, his lifelong friend and collaborator, and to New Criticism in general. Beck demonstrates that Warren consistently treats writers holistically, taking into account biographical as well as historical data, to account for their entire body of work, rather than focusing on a single literary text.

Charlotte H. Beck is professor emerita of English at Maryville College and adjunct professor of English at the University of South Carolina, Beaufort.