Excerpt from Aesthetic Criticism in Canada: Its Aims, Methods and Status; Being a Short Propaedeutic to the Appreciation of the Being Fine Arts and the Writing of Criticism, on Literature, Painting and Dramatic and Musical Performances The following essay is addressed primarily, if not wholly, to my compatriots, to the cultured amongst the Canadian people. It is an essay as much in social psychology as in criticism, since it discloses, for the first time, or in a new way for the first time, certain facts in the aesthetic genius and history of the Canadian people. But as an essay it is not in itself a venture in belles-lettres. For it aims wholly to be pedagogic and pragmatic: namely, to recall to the consciousness of the people of this young country, Canada, the importance and need of aesthetic criticism, to orientate some of the relations obtaining between criticism and the development of the fine arts, and to signalize the method of criticism that, at the current stage of Canadian civilization, will best promote aesthetic culture and the distribution of aesthetic standards amongst the people of the Dominion. In short, the essay aims to give to a people notably intolerant of foreign criticism of their civilization and culture a new method of self-criticism, with which they may, on their own initiative, coolly and sanely reflect on the status and tendencies of their culture, and, thus seeing themselves as others see them, reasonably and cheerfully turn to observe right standards of aesthetic appreciation and to democratize good taste in all the fine arts. The best way to invite my compatriots to conduct this free examination of their aesthetic civilization and culture was, it seemed to me, to write the following brief essay in criticism of criticism in Canada. Such an essay, I felt, would perform a double service. First, it would cause Canadian critics themselves to consider how loyally they were employing their own function, and, if need be, to correct their aims and methods. Secondly, it would encourage Canadians who sincerely wish to enhance their powers of aesthetic appreciation or to refine their taste, to read native criticism with respect and grateful acceptance of its appraisals, comments, and recommendations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.