Great Regulars: What [Daniel] Mendelsohn is getting at

is the central faith of anyone who takes criticism seriously: that it is an art. And, like all arts, it comes with its own aesthetics, its own challenges and considerations, which all of us who write it have to keep in mind. Of these, the most important is that criticism is subjective, that, as in any creative enterprise, we can only write from our perspectives, which we must honor and, as Mendelsohn points out, constantly question, as well.

from David L. Ulin: Los Angeles Times: For a critic, niceness is beside the point

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